The 49ers holding the WRs before half. (1 Viewer)

[St. Geezy]

Here is the language from the rule book. To me, this sort of "against the spirit of the rules" cheating should have resulted in it being ruled a palpably unfair act.

Rule 11-2-1-e: A touchdown is scored when … the Referee awards a touchdown to a team that has been denied one by a palpably unfair act.

Rule 12-3-3: A player or substitute shall not interfere with play by any act which is palpably unfair. Penalty: For a palpably unfair act: Offender may be disqualified. The Referee, after consulting his crew, enforces any such distance penalty as they consider equitable and irrespective of any other specified code penalty. The Referee could award a score.

Quirky Research: Blogging the NFL Rule Book: Palpably Unfair Act

 

[Hey BAY BAY!!!]

That was a C'MON man moment...lol

 

[Nightshade]

One way to stop it is to enforce all the holds, instead of only being able to accept one penalty enforce them all making it 15 yards instead of only 5

 

[Ti Rider]

Smell a rule change coming in the future..

It would be an incredibly simple thing to fix - new rule - if you are on Defense with 2:00 or less with the opposing Offense in the red zone and your DBs receive multiple holding calls the ball will be placed on the one yard line and the presnap time will be added back (like the play never happened).

This rule change will not incur until it costs New England or Dallas a critical win.

 

[SaintStephen1]

Saints should have used it in playoff loss to Niners in 2011 on winning TD play. Winners would have had to kick FG which would have sent game into OT rather than giving up game winning 15 yard pass to Davis.

I have been advocating this strategy ever since Tulane gave up a winning20 yard TD to Ole Miss in the eighties with a 3 pts lead. My brother called me immediately when it happened to alert me that someone finally used it.

 

[WhoDatPhan78]

They should just give the offense the option to have the game clock reset to where it was before the snap if there are less than 2 minutes left in the half/game on any defensive penalty.

If running off the time benefits the offense, they can let it go off, if not, they can keep the time.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Totally understand why it was done, it kept us from scoring 4 additional points, but think it's the most unsportsmanlike play I've ever seen.

 

[CTSaint]

I gotta give the 9ers props on that play. That was some Belichick stuff right there.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[jmalon3]

I have a feeling this will be used by other teams going forward. It's a smart play and similar to the "hack-a-bigman" foul in basketball. I would use this tactic just as posters have mentioned above. Hold every play, allow 5-6 seconds to run off the clock and give up the 5 yards each time. Belicheck will be the smart guy in this scenario and run a screen pass for a TD. That or delayed hand off will beat this move.

 

[HouseCall]

What the rule should be is when there are multiple, egregious holds like that is give the option of foregoing the five yards and having the clock restored to the time it was before the snap.


That way it makes the penalty pointless.

 

[saintsfan342000]

Very smart play. Frustrating, but smart.

Exactly. It was kind of like the Niners were giving a finger to the league. I respect that.

 

[Eeyore]

Run a bunch formation with the middle receiver close enough to the line to keep the DB on the line but deep enough to break left or right. At the snap the middle receiver runs a slant using the inside receiver, who is being held, as a natural pick.

 

[BoNcHiE]

It would be an incredibly simple thing to fix - new rule - if you are on Defense with 2:00 or less with the opposing Offense in the red zone and your DBs receive multiple holding calls the ball will be placed on the one yard line and the presnap time will be added back (like the play never happened).

This rule change will not incur until it costs New England or Dallas a critical win.

Too much in favor the offense to do that. You can have plays where two guys hold but don't do it in a coordinated fashion.

You just change the rule so that inside 2 minutes the ref puts the time back on the clock after enforcing the penalty. That's how you fix this.

 

[Saint Kamara]

One way to stop it is to enforce all the holds, instead of only being able to accept one penalty enforce them all making it 15 yards instead of only 5

That would not help anything, unless you are willing to take a shot at the endzone with no timeouts and only 4 seconds left.

The whole point is they were able to waste just enough time off the clock to force the opposing team to kick a fg without really having any shot at competing a pass on the previous play.

That is against the spirit of the rules as someone alluded to and the time on the clock must be restored and penalty assessed. That's the rule change, plain and simple.

 

[saintsfan342000]

What the rule should be is when there are multiple, egregious holds like that is give the option of foregoing the five yards and having the clock restored to the time it was before the snap.


That way it makes the penalty pointless.

No. No more rules. No more penalties. Please.