The officiating has always been somewhat iffy. the crews seem to never get together and tell their crew member flag thrower to pick it up, and it many times seems to happen during a big play or makes a play a big play.
Talking with my son about the game, which he went to (and he and I have seen a lot of them in person), he mentioned to me that why dont they try getting rid of the really subjective, many times, holding and PI penalties altogether. As he said, if a receiver cant get open well enough by pushing off some himself then he doesnt deserve the target or too bad if he cant catch it. Dbacks could hold and receivers could push off so let the chips fall where they may. If a defensive player hits a defenseless receiver too hard etc there still is the rule to call a personal foul, which is not perfect since it is a subjective call.
And on holding, both sides can hold but no tripping or tackling/pulling players to the ground. Only ball carriers are tackled.
Personally, I would try getting rid of these penalties and it just doesnt work then try the basketball rule change where the teams get a certain number of holds and PIs each half without a penalty march off or losing the outcome of the play. The flags are thrown so they can be totaled up.
Has any league tried or experimented with this type of thing in the last 70 years?
Talking with my son about the game, which he went to (and he and I have seen a lot of them in person), he mentioned to me that why dont they try getting rid of the really subjective, many times, holding and PI penalties altogether. As he said, if a receiver cant get open well enough by pushing off some himself then he doesnt deserve the target or too bad if he cant catch it. Dbacks could hold and receivers could push off so let the chips fall where they may. If a defensive player hits a defenseless receiver too hard etc there still is the rule to call a personal foul, which is not perfect since it is a subjective call.
And on holding, both sides can hold but no tripping or tackling/pulling players to the ground. Only ball carriers are tackled.
Personally, I would try getting rid of these penalties and it just doesnt work then try the basketball rule change where the teams get a certain number of holds and PIs each half without a penalty march off or losing the outcome of the play. The flags are thrown so they can be totaled up.
Has any league tried or experimented with this type of thing in the last 70 years?