Week 9 officiating video: no pass interference on punt formations, legal contact, and penalty enforcements

Senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron released the week nine officiating video (below). In it he covered the following scenarios:

Pass interference on a punt. By rule, any time there are receivers at the end of the line on each side of the formation, there can be no pass interference on the defense. It is designed this way because the defender is already at a disadvantage and does not know if the punter will throw or pass. The defender can still be called for other penalties such as holding or a facemask penalty. In an example from the Ravens-Titans game last Sunday, the Ravens lined up for a punt and threw a pass for a first down. During the run, the defender took down the receiver by the facemask. Since the foul occurred inside the 30-yard line of the Titans, the penalty was enforced half the distance to the goal.

Legal contact by eligible receivers. Receivers may contact the defender while the ball is in the air but only within one yard of the line of scrimmage. In a scoring play from the Broncos-Eagles game at the 1-yard line, a Broncos receiver went out to block a defensive back and made contact at the goal line with the defender, and then made contact with a second defender within one yard of the line of scrimmage. Contact beyond one yard while the ball is in the air is not permitted for the offense. 

Penalty enforcement.  After a late hit on 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard as he slid, an altercation broke out between several 49ers and Cardinals players. In the ensuing melee, three players were ejected for fighting. For the 49ers, running back Carlos Hyde was ejected for throwing a punch. For the Cardinals, Frostee Rucker and Hasson Reddick were both ejected for throwing punches. The late hit was committed by Cardinals safety Antoine Bethea and was enforced as unnecessary roughness. The disqualification penalties were assessed as “between downs”, not during the “continuous action” of the previous play and were offsetting so only the late hit was enforced. This particular play was discussed in greater detail in our week 9 quick calls post.

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