Tag Archives: offsetting penalties

I could have written about the Suhspension today, but that felt like beating a dead horse with another dead horse.  There’s also the firing of Del Rio in Jacksonville and the ownership mess there, but then I decided that I really just don’t care.  So instead I’m going to throw another tantrum about the confusing, and often times maddening, NFL rulebook.

Let’s say you are being chased by a serial killer through some alleys.  Its late at night, you’re scared, and he looks like this!

AAAAAAH!

This isn’t a whimsical shampoo commercial, he’s out for blood!  Eventually you come across a busy street and run across it.  The police notice this commotion and pick both of you up.  The other dude is carrying a huge knife, so he gets charged with attempted murder and you get charged for jaywalking.  What if the police eventually ruled that these things cancelled each other out and you were both free to go.  This wouldn’t make any sense, right?  Of course it wouldn’t.

Such is my issue with offsetting penalties.

In the NFL when one team commits a personal foul, like roughing the passer or an illegal blow to the head, it can be cancelled out by a holding penalty.  Once again the league seems to be talking out of both sides of its mouth.  If we are really going to send the message that player safety is important, and players should be held accountable for their actions, how does this rule make any sense?

There are a variety of solutions but the one that makes the most sense to me is simply marking off the distance in yards.  I don’t think this should carry over to every foul per se.  A ten yard holding penalty and a five yards offside penalty can still cross each other out because there is nothing malicious there.  But teams that commit major penalties like unnecessary roughness should have to eat the difference in yards and replay the down.  I think you also take the automatic first down out of the personal foul when there is offsetting penalties.

Now as far as debating when the referees call a personal foul like roughing the passer?  I’m not touching that one.  I actually have to get some stuff done this week.  What do you think?  Is the way the rules set up actually fair?  Or is this just something you couldn’t give two shits about?