Pass Interference…too harsh a penalty?
March 19th, 2007 | by Kevin Morris |
For once I found something I might agree with a 49er about. Mike Nolan head coach of the Niners wants to change the pass interference penalty to give the officials some discretion to decide if a pass interference penalty is worthy of a 15 yard penalty or a spot foul. I’m not sure what the determining factor should be between the two, but I have often seen a slight bump down field turn in to a game changing play because of an official’s flag. It would be nice to turn some of those slight indiscretions in to 15 yard penalties and make teams earn the yards rather than officials give them the yards. If it is a true mugging to stop the team from scoring a TD then spot the ball at the site of the foul.
The only thing I don’t like about it is the element of subjectivity that it adds to the rule. Fans will yell on Monday that it should have been a spot foul or my player was mugged in the end zone and we only got 15 yards, it cost us the game. To me that is the biggest negative, it adds another subjective call to the officials that may determine the outcome of the game. See the complete article below.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Nolan wants to see the NFL adopt a new pass interference rule that gives officials some leeway in handing out punishment, according to a published report.
Nolan’s plan, as describe to the Sacramento Bee, would let officials decide if a penalty should result in a 15-yard penalty or a harsher, spot of the foul penalty.
The current rules state that a defensive pass interference penalty rewards the offense with the ball at the spot of the foul or at the one yard line if the penalty happens in the end zone.
Nolan, a former defensive back, points out that with the subjectivity of pass interference calls, it pushes offensive coaches into calling plays that simply try to draw penalties.
“You’ll see them drop back and throw it vertical,” Nolan told the paper. “They’ll overthrow the play; they just want the penalty.”
Nolan appears to be passionate about the topic but so far doesn’t expect the issue to get much traction at this month’s NFL owners meeting. The 49ers may not even submit his proposal.
“You can maim someone, and it’s 15 yards,” he told the Sacramento Bee. “You can end someone’s career, and it’s 15 yards. Pass interference — it’s not a reflection of the severity of the crime. It’s like getting the death penalty for going 75 mph in a 55 zone.”
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