Xs and Os: Recognizing Penalties: Episode 1

by Dub

The stadium is roaring. The other team is on offense on its own 20 and just ran a deep pass play on 3^rd and 10. Forty yards down the field lies a yellow penalty flag. Your team’s number one corner back is walking back to the defensive huddle shaking his head and trying to speak to the referee. He throws his hands up in frustration and the referee queues his mic to let us all know, “Pass interference, Defense, Number 31, Automatic first down”. The crowd erupts, as a fan next to you is screaming and trying to get a “BULLSH*T” chant started among the others. You feel lost, not knowing what just transpired on the field, and you want to know how to avoid it for next time.

We here at Bruce and Albert know that watching football with your friends can be a little intimidating. No one wants to stand up and scream at the television, cheering and high-fiving his friends, or to rally the marching band to play the penalty song, only to find out the penalty is against your own team. This is our first installment of Xs and Os: Recognizing penalties. 

The first set of penalties we will discuss is one that hits rather close to home for us Gators & Buccaneers fans: interference calls on receivers and defensive players. There are a number of calls that can be made down field that could either negatively or positively influence your team's success. For all of our rules discussions, we will be using the 2011 Official Playing Rules and Casebook of the National Football League which can be found here.

I could just tell you what the penalties are, and have you look them up, but we'll explain here with some photos to better detail the rules. The most often called penalty down field is Defensive pass interference, often referred to among football geeks as "PI". As a precursor to all of this verbiage, though, we want to make very clear that none of these penalties will ever be called, NCAA or NFL, if the defensive or offensive player is watching the ball and making a play without looking back at the other player. This will be explained later.

As defined by the National Football League in Rule 8 Section 5 Article 1, "It is pass interference by either team when any act by a player more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage significantly hinders the progress of an eligible receiver’s opportunity to catch the ball. Pass interference can only occur when a forward pass is thrown from behind the line of scrimmage, regardless of whether the pass is legal or illegal, or whether it crosses the line". In short terms, Defensive PI occurs when the quarterback (or whoever is acting as the passer) throws the football to a receiver, and the defensive player makes contact to prevent the receiver from making a catch, before the ball arrives (see figure to the left). Offensive PI is the same, but the roles are switched; it occurs when a receiver is going down field and realizes he cannot make a play on the ball, so he keeps a defensive player from catching the ball through contact, which is defined as any touching between two players after the ball has left the hand of the quarterback, but before arriving at a catchable point for either player. These are usually tactics used by players when playing very aggressive coverage, or if there is possibility of the receiver or defensive player making a game changing play on the ball, like a touchdown or interception as the case may be. As a side note, contact down field between a defensive player and receiver to prevent making a catch is called Illegal Contact, if the ball has not left the hand of the quarterback. The distinction between the two is easy to remember, if the ball is thrown its interference, and if it’s not, it’s illegal contact.

While penalties are usually a sign of an undisciplined football team, pass interference is not always a bad thing. Now we’re going to talk about situational pass interference using some names you might know. Florida is playing against Tennessee, and Florida is on offense. John Brantley receives a snap and looks down field for Andre Debose. He throws the ball down field where Andre and a corner back are sprinting toward the end zone (for all intents and purposes this corner back will be referred to as CB). The ball is in the air, arching down toward the two players racing to make a game changing play. Debose jumps into the air to make a catch, but jumps too early, realizing he may have misjudged the ball. He realizes that, not only is he not going to catch the ball, but CB who ran slightly slower than Debose is closer to the ball and  looks to make a clean interception, and possible return. Mid-air, Debose grabs the defensive player and wraps his arms around him, dragging him to the ground, preventing CB from making the play. You know, though, that this will not result in a turnover, and instead just be a penalty. As a football team, you ALWAYS want to prevent a score, at whatever cost.

The other kind of down field “interference” penalty is Defensive Holding. Defensive Holding is defined in the NFL rulebook Rule 8 Section 4 Article 6“… defensive holding if a player grasps an eligible offensive player (or his  jersey) with his hands, or extends an arm or arms to cut off or encircle him”. This occurs when a receiver is running down field and a part of his body or uniform is held by a defensive player, who is trying to prevent him from making a play. This call is also very easy to understand, when you have the right signs. A player might be running slower than normal, or look hindered; this is a situation when you check the defensive player’s hands during the play and see if he is grasping any material or part of the other player. This is a call that, like pass interference, can be made to prevent a big scoring play. However, sometimes both of these plays are made by a defensive player who realizes he is beaten and is just making a last ditch effort to disrupt the play.

As we stated in our precursor, none of these plays will be called penalties if a player is “playing the ball” not “playing the man”. Here is a very quick explanation. Imagine two players standing on the goal line. We’ll use Andre Debose and CB again as our examples. Debose and CB are looking back downfield toward where John Brantley is standing and has thrown the ball. As the ball approaches the two players on its downward arc, Debose and CB bend at their knees and prepare to jump. Debose is in front (closer to John Brantley than the end zone), and uses hand to stabilize himself on the other player as he is in the process of jumping. They both jump and Debose makes the catch, immediately being tackled by CB. This is what is known as Incidental Contact, and will be a “no call” every time. The reason it is not called is because Debose is making a play on the ball without vastly changing the outcome of the play. While it may give him a slight edge, as long as he is looking at the ball and not making an obvious effort to give himself an advantage, he won’t get flagged.

Hopefully, now you will be able to watch a football game and know not only the penalties being called, but how to quickly recognize them, and whether or not they were situationally advantageous for your team. If you have any questions, please comment on this post and we’ll respond as soon as possible!