Prisco: Trend in illegal downfield blocking on pass plays

[sbark]

That's all defenses need now, even more advantage going to the offense.

"We complained about it in the offseason," a defensive coordinator told me, "but teams still doing it. Some ref crews call it close, but others let it go. It's illegal by the rule."

Keep an eye on this play as you watch teams like the Packers this weekend, I will be, just like defensive coordinators throughout the season.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...ts-take-a-closer-look-at-whether-theyre-legal

 

[Roadtrip635]

It's definitely getting worse, same thing with pick plays. Just don't see either of those getting flagged very often and it continues to grow.

 

[joseephuss]

It's definitely getting worse, same thing with pick plays. Just don't see either of those getting flagged very often and it continues to grow.

You haven't watched many Cowboys game then. That is when the refs throw the flags for these plays.

 

[khiladi]

Patriots have been getting away with it for years... Denver as well the year they set all sorts of records...

Wade Phillips made a comment about this in his year off in an interview, about how this is happening and spoke about these two teams, though he's in Denver now...

We all saw what happened to Denver when Seattle was at full strength and could play defense with their great secondary... They made the Denver offense, including Manning, look pedestrian...

QB numbers are totally inflated in this era...

They are punishing CB play, while already making it difficult for them to play within the new rules..

 

[Yakuza Rich]

And the Patriots are the worst offenders and get called for it the least.

I think they instituted the same philosophy that the Seahawks had on defense with defensive holding...refs simply won't call it all of the time. Although it would be nice if the refs called it against the Patriots more than once in a blue moon.




YR

 

[LandryFan]

That's all defenses need now, even more advantage going to the offense.

"We complained about it in the offseason," a defensive coordinator told me, "but teams still doing it. Some ref crews call it close, but others let it go. It's illegal by the rule."

Keep an eye on this play as you watch teams like the Packers this weekend, I will be, just like defensive coordinators throughout the season.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...ts-take-a-closer-look-at-whether-theyre-legal

I agree that the flag should get thrown there a lot more than it does, but the other side of me says there's way too many flags being thrown already. It's to the point that the "F" in NFL no longer stands for "Football" and games are getting to the point of being almost unwatchable because of the number of flags being thrown. When a great play is made (offense, defense, or special teams...doesn't matter), rather than celebrate, I hold my breath waiting for the dreaded "flag on the play" announcement.

 

[Hoofbite]

The Detroit Lions scored a touchdown on a similar play against the Vikings last year in Week 15 when Golden Tate took a short pass, behind two downfield blockers, and scored from 7 yards out.

It is clear from this screen shot that the blockers were engaged before the pass was in Tate's hands. That's a foul. It wasn't called.

What the hell is he talking about? There's 1 blocker engaged and nobody even in the screen shot that could possibly be blocked by the other Lions WR.

Also, the engaged blocker is 1 yard off the line, which is legal. This is a clean play.

 

[Nova]

The weird thing is, the rule is seemingly backwards. You're allowed to block a Defender when the ball is in the air, but not before the pass is thrown.

...why?

It's damn near impossible to monitor that way. Ref can't watch the QB's release while watching downfield to see if blocks are happening prematurely... Not unless in the offense is really off and not even close.

Makes more sense to say "Lee was being blocked before Beckham had the ball in his hands, therefore OPI."

 

[Hoofbite]

The weird thing is, the rule is seemingly backwards. You're allowed to block a Defender when the ball is in the air, but not before the pass is thrown.

...why?

It's damn near impossible to monitor that way. Ref can't watch the QB's release while watching downfield to see if blocks are happening prematurely... Not unless in the offense is really off and not even close.

Makes more sense to say "Lee was being blocked before Beckham had the ball in his hands, therefore OPI."

I don't think that's how the rule is meant to be applied, or how it is actually applied. I dunno if Prisco has an old version of the rule but here's the rule:

Blocking more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage by an offensive player prior to a pass being thrown is offensive pass interference. See 8-3-1 for exception for an ineligible offensive player.

Here's Prisco's version:

Article 4 Other Prohibited Acts By the Offense. Blocking downfield by an offensive player prior to a pass being thrown is offensive pass interference.

No mention at all of the fact that players can block up to 1 yard beyond the line of scrimmage. The note he puts after the rule is accurate.

Note: It is also pass interference by the offense to block a defender beyond the line while the pass is in the air, if the block occurs in the vicinity of the player to whom the pass is thrown.

​

I think it's pretty obvious that the note gives the same 1-yard leeway as the rule it falls under even if it doesn't explicitly state as much. It doesn't make sense for subtext to supercede the rule that it falls under. Additionally, as you said, it would be impossible to enforce. Basically, in order to make a legal block a guy who blocks a defender 1-yard ahead of the LOS would have to teleport both himself and the defender back to the line of scrimmage just as the pass is released without ever knowing when the pass will be thrown. I would also find it hard to believe if the rule didn't allow a player to block within 1-yard of the LOS and drive his opponent back beyond that 1-yard.

I guess maybe Prisco is looking at the rule from the absolute most literal perspective possible. I have no idea why he would do that because it would be entirely stupid and impossible to enforce, but that's the only way he could make a case that the play from the Lions' game is illegal.

 

[Insomniac]

And the Patriots are the worst offenders and get called for it the least.

I think they instituted the same philosophy that the Seahawks had on defense with defensive holding...refs simply won't call it all of the time. Although it would be nice if the refs called it against the Patriots more than once in a blue moon.




YR

In any game if you see press coverage you also see pick plays on just about every play but it's rarely called.
The call for a pick play is Offensive Pass Interference but it's not the only type of OPI so the stats below aren't definitive.
http://www.nflpenalties.com/penalty/offensive-pass-interference?year=2014

2014 105 accepted 40 declined Leader St Louis 8-1 NE T 3rd 5-4
2013 66 accepted 9 declined Leader Denver 6 - 0 NE T 7th 3-0
2012 79 accepted 8 declined Leader New England 7 - 0
2011 69 accepted 18 declined Leader Detroit 6-2 NE 32nd 0-0
2010 73 accepted 18 declined Leader New England 6 - 0

So far this year the total is 19 OPI penalties so it looks like they're calling it more this year and last year than they had been calling it.

 

[casmith07]

Green Bay's entire passing offense is predicated on pick plays.

 

[YosemiteSam]

This generally occurs due to a QB holding on to the ball too long. Players usually have internal clocks they go by if they can't actively see the QB. When you are playing at full speed. It's very hard to turn around and look back at the QB when you've already expected him to get rid of the ball. Even a split second can decide if you make or don't make the block.

The key here is offensive execution. The QB needs to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible for a given play.

 

[FloridaRob]

Green Bay's entire passing offense is predicated on pick plays.

wow-I did not know that. And I thought there offense was pretty multi dimensional. But anyway, the Packers don't do anything against the rules but go to the letter of the rule. Here is a article about how they do it, why they do it and why it is not called.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/pack...receivers-blocking-b99588245z1-330362051.html