According to Gonzalez over at ESPN, today McVay said that the kick off rules were correctly enforced.
So, Headslap, you're right-- it's an awful rule that could be potentially exploited, or at least enforced in a way that's horribly unfair to the receiving team, as it was in this case.
Rampage, you're right too in that, yes, if Cooper had caught the ball in the endzone and then advanced it to the five, and there were offsetting penalties during the return, then the Rams would be rewarded with starting the drive at the 25. Crazy as it sounds.
And RFIP, you are mostly right too, in that yes, as the rules are now written, offsetting penalties during a change of possession play means that the ball is indeed placed at the point where change of possession occurred. (This was not the case prior to 2016, though. Prior to 2016, consideration was given to the severity of the penalty and also to the location of the infraction.)
And lyser and ferragamo, you are both right in that all teams have every incentive nowadays to play it safe and just take the ball at the 25 whenever possible. The NFL is doing whatever it can to discourage teams from returning kickoffs, and this rule is in a way a part of that.
Lastly, I'm right, too-- the rule is just terrible and stupid. Just glad to have clarity-- Boger correctly enforced a badly conceived rule.
If Washington had not committed a penalty, the Rams would have gotten the ball at around the 10 yard line (based on the fact that the Rams holding call occurred at about the 20). But because Wash committed a personal foul during the run of play, the "offsetting penalties on change of possession" rule is applied, and the Rams have to take the ball at the point of possession change, at the two. So, in this instance, Washington clearly benefits from having committed a foul.
Stupid, stupid rule that should be changed.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2017 09:42PM by XXXIVwin.
