Another weekend of football, and I found myself pondering what happens when a penalty is committed? After the flags are picked up the officials often go into a huddle, talk and point and then they announce something like " Holding, defense, number 82, five yard penalty. Penalty declined."
Who declined the penalty? Seldom does it ever look as if the officials are communicating with the players on the field or the coaches on the sideline. Are they assuming that no one is crazy enough to give up a ten yard gain in return for five yards and a repeat of the down?
Maybe I am missing the interaction because the TV cameras are focused on something else, but the decision on an average run of the mill infraction seems to come solely from the officials.
The team against which the penalty was committed decides whether to accept or decline the penalty. In your example, the offense declined the penalty. Often the decision is communicated via signals as opposed to a conversation between the officials and the team.
When I played, the decision was relayed from the coach to an onfield captain to the ref. Usually the same guy that gets the play signals from the coach, a quarterback or linebacker, will tell the ref of the coaches’ intent as well. I assume it would be similar for the Pros. It’s hardly a thrilling exchange and unsurprising that it’s not televised.
Officially, it’s the team captain who talks to the ref, but it’s really the head coach.
Sometimes there is no decision to make as some penalties are automatically declined, such as when the offense scores on a play when the defense commits a foul.
And on any penalty that occurs before the ball is snapped such as delay of game or false start, there is no choice.
Not completely. The offense could decline an offsides if they got a big play off of it. In fact, if you watch a lot of football, you’ll see QBs take chances they normally wouldn’t since even an interception will come back on the offsides.
Offsides or encroachment is not called until after the play. false start (an offensive liuneman moving to early) is called before the play.
I believe offsides (being on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage at the time of the snap) doesn’t get called until after the end of the play. Thus, if the offense gets a big play, it can decline the penalty and take the result of the play instead.
However, encroachment (coming into contact with an opposing player before the snap) gets called before the play begins, similar to a false start or delay of game penalty.
I also believe an offsides penalty will be called BEFORE the snap if the defensive player is coming unabated to the quarterback.
From nfl.com’s Q&A with the NFL’s senior director of officiating:
Encroachment, false start, and delay of game are all called before the snap and will invalidate a play. Sometimes you’ll see the snap occur and the flags fly a second later, but as the infraction occured before the snap, the whistle will be blown and the play will be ruled dead.
A defensive offsides penalty, as some people have stated, is a free play for the offense and you’ll see them take chances that they normally wouldn’t. Often you’ll see the offense snap a ball early if they see a defensive player jump, hoping to catch him in the neutral zone (along with the Romulans) and draw a flag. The flag will fly at the spot of the offense, but the play will continue and the offensive will have the choice of declining the penalty and accepting the outcome of the play, or accepting the penalty and advancing five yards.
Not true. If the offense scores a field goal, they can still accept a penalty and keep going for a touchdown.