Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Depends on how inadvertent, but yes. If you have :30 left in a four-point game and there's a completion down to the 10-yard line, and the penalty would move the ball to the 5, and the contact is incidental, don't throw the flag. The reason to penalize inadvertent penalties is to incent (I hate that word) more careful play, but that goal should be subordinated at the end of a close game.
Flattens? Doesn't sound inadvertent. Maybe that the key to what I'm saying.
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Although I've already sent something similar to this in a pm (which you "accidentally" deleted before reading, you bastard), I'll tackle it again, trying* to keep it short.
There are two things I have a problem with in this post.
(1) Your continued willingness to ignore the concept of an "automatic" penalty; and
(2) The fact that you think certain rules should be overlooked at the end of a close game.
As for (1), I'm pretty sure I already posted that you really just have a problem with the concept of an automatic penalty altogether, and not necessarily just at the end of a game, so I won't go into that again. But, the fact that you acknowledge that there are rules against inadvertent or unintentional activity means that you accept the fact that the NFL deems it necessary to assess a penalty even if an act was accidental.
I can think of a thousand calls that would and should be made at the end (or beginning) of the game that can be blamed on inadvertent activity. The one you used earlier is probably best. If a punt returner calls for a fair catch and someone on the kicking team trips and runs into him and the punt returner falls, but then gets up and makes the catch anyway, you think no penalty should be assessed at the end of a game because (i) it was inadvertent and (ii) it did not affect game play.
Sounds good, but the fact is, like the quarterback who gets hit in the head constantly, the punt returner is extremely vulnerable when concentrating on the kick. The League has determined that because of this vulnerability, defenders need to exercise extra caution when making plays in these circumstances. The automatic call the refs are forced to make are there to ensure that the appropriate level of caution is taken. And since every team has notice and the rule is (in theory) applied consistently, then you barrel at the punt returner or the quarterback at your own risk. I don't see why the League would want
less care taken at the end of games than at the beginning.
Also, better teams commit fewer penalties and are more disciplined. You want to reward the less disciplined teams at the end of games. That makes no sense.
As for (2), I don't know how much sports you've played, but the most infuriating thing for a player whose team has been called for a foul or penalty 15 times during a game is to not have that call made for him at the end of the game because the end of the game is somehow more important and that call less important in the eyes of the ref.
This is what I was talking about when I said the rules are the rules. You can't agree on rules by which you're going to play a game, play the game by those rules 99% of the time and then eliminate the ones you don't like at the end.
Take basketball as an example. If I've been called 5 times during a game for a hand check and am in danger of fouling out, which in turn affects my aggressiveness on offense and defense, then don't fucking tell me that that obvious hand-check that kept me from making a specific kind of move during the last possession of a game shouldn't be called because you want the "players to decide the game." That is stupid, inconsistent and unfair to everyone on the court.
The same goes for the penalties you think shouldn't be called at the end of a football game. Everyone has been playing by the rules the whole game, being extra careful not to hit the quarterback late or to draw a penalty** because they got their hands up at the wrong time and you want to let someone go at the end because you think the penalty is no longer important? Ridiculous.
TM
*Not really.
**Or not being careful and being penalized for it (quite possibly on the most important play of the game which could happen in the second quarter).
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