(Yes, this is a longer-than-normal article; please stick with me as I unpack the concept.)
An official recently emailed me with a question that I suspect many officials have asked themselves at one time or another.
“Something about these darn end zone/foul plays keeps causing me to overthink things. Do you have a good way you go about working through those types of questions? Mainly for fouls in the end zone.”
I understood exactly what he meant. The end zone seems to have a way of making otherwise competent officials question everything they know. Put the same play at the 50-yard line, and we can often work through it without much difficulty. Move the play near an end zone, however, and suddenly we start thinking about force, safeties, touchbacks, momentum, fumbles, basic spots, and penalty enforcement all at once. Before long, we have so many rules competing for our attention that we no longer know which question we are trying to answer.
The problem, however, is not really the end zone. The end zone simply exposes a more fundamental problem in the way we sometimes approach penalty enforcement.
We are trying to solve the problem out of order.
Some Rules Must Simply Be Memorized
Unfortunately, some parts of the rules require what I call “brute-force memorization.” There is no clever shortcut that allows us to avoid learning them.
The momentum exception is a good example. To correctly apply the Rule 8-5-2a EXCEPTION, we must know the specific components that satisfy the exception. We cannot reason our way to the rule during the few seconds we have on the field. We must already know it.
The same is true of post-scrimmage kick enforcement. We must know the requirements that must be satisfied before PSK enforcement applies. We must know the exact definitions of a horse-collar tackle and a blindside block. We must know the legal and illegal ways an opponent may contact a defenseless receiver. There are many other examples.
Force, safety, and touchback are another area in which there is no substitute for knowing the rules. We must be completely comfortable with Rule 8-5 and the related definitions. We must know, for example, that a muff of a ball in flight does not create a new force (8-5-1a). We must understand the situations in which force is not a factor (2-13-4). We must know the momentum exception well enough that we recognize it when we see it (8-5-2a EXCEPTION).
We must know football rules before we can use them.
Knowing the rules, however, is only part of penalty enforcement. We also need a disciplined process for applying them.
Remember Geometry Class?
I was never the student who particularly enjoyed geometry proofs, but I have come to realize that penalty enforcement should work much like the geometry problems we solved in junior high school.
We were given a diagram and certain facts. We had theorems, postulates, and definitions that we had previously learned. We were then asked to prove or find something. We could not simply look at the diagram, consider everything we knew about geometry all at once, and somehow arrive at the answer. We had to work through the problem in a logical sequence.
The football play is the “given.”
The rules are our theorems and postulates.
The penalty enforcement is the “find.”
The most important part of that process is discipline. We must work through the problem in the same order each time, rather than randomly considering the components as they occur to us.
That is where many officials get into trouble. We see that the ball is in the end zone and immediately think, “Could this be a safety?” We see a fumble and immediately focus on the spot where it occurred. We see that the offense committed a foul and start thinking about penalty enforcement before we have even determined the basic spot.
We are asking good questions. We are simply asking them out of order.
Solve the Variables in Order
When a play involves an end zone and a foul, we should resist the temptation to solve everything at once.
WHAT foul occurred?
WHO committed the foul (the team in possession or the team not in possession)?
WHEN did it occur (did the foul occur while the ball was live or after it became dead? Was it a loose ball play or running play? Did the foul occur while the ball was loose or in player possession)?
WHERE did it occur (behind or beyond the line of scrimmage; behind or beyond the run or related run)?
Only after we have answered that question should we go to Rule 10-4 and determine which article governs the enforcement. That article will help us establish the basic spot.
Once we know the basic spot, we can consider the location of the foul and determine the enforcement spot.
Finally, after we know from where the penalty is enforced, we can determine whether the enforcement results in a safety.
The order matters.
A safety under Rule 8-5-2c occurs when a player on offense commits a foul for which the penalty is accepted and enforcement is from a spot in his own end zone. That distinction becomes much easier to understand when we discipline ourselves not to ask, “Is this a safety?” until we have first determined the type of play, the applicable enforcement rule, the basic spot, and the enforcement spot.
The safety is the answer at the end of the geometry problem. It is not where we begin.
The End Zone Adds Unnecessary Consternation
The play that prompted the official’s question is a perfect example.
Consider this situation:
3/10 at the A-6. A12 retreats into his end zone to pass. While scrambling, he fumbles there. The fumble is subsequently recovered by Team A in the field of play. During A12’s run, or while the ball is loose after the fumble, A55 blocks below the waist at the A-4.
The presence of the end zone immediately creates consternation. A12 forced the ball into his own end zone. He fumbled there. Team A committed a foul. The words “end zone,” “fumble,” and “offensive foul” are now all competing for our attention.
Wouldn’t we take the enforcement back to the end zone for a safety?
That is exactly the kind of question that causes us to overthink these plays. Instead of working through the enforcement process, we jump directly to the possible outcome that concerns us most.
So, take the end zone out of the play.
Move everything forward 40 yards.
3/10 at the A-46. A12 retreats to the A-40, where he fumbles. Team A subsequently recovers the ball. During A12’s run, or while the ball is loose after the fumble, A55 blocks below the waist at the A-44.
Now work through the play.
The answer probably seems much more straightforward. We first determine the type of play. This is a loose ball play. Rule 2-33-1c says a loose ball play is action during a fumble made by A from in or behind the neutral zone. Rule 10-4-2b says the basic spot is the previous spot for a foul which occurs during a loose ball play. We determine the basic spot (the previous spot), enforce the penalty 15 yards from the A-46, and replay the down. 3/25 at the A-31.
Now move the entire play back 40 yards.
What rule changed?
None.
The end zone made the play feel more complicated, but it did not change the process we use to determine the penalty enforcement. The basic spot does not become the spot of the fumble simply because the fumble occurred in the end zone. We still must identify the type of play and apply the appropriate article in Rule 10-4.
In this play, the applicable enforcement provision makes the previous spot the basic spot. Therefore, the penalty is enforced from the previous spot. The fact that A12 was responsible for taking the ball into his own end zone does not change the basic spot for penalty enforcement.
There is no safety.
Do Not Let the Result Solve the Play
One of the most common mistakes in rules study is allowing a possible result to influence the process we use to get there.
A systematic approach protects us from that mistake.
Do not skip steps simply because you think you recognize the destination.
The systematic process may not always be easy. It still requires us to know the rules, and some of those rules require brute-force memorization. No systematic process can compensate for rules we have never learned.
But once we know the rules, our job is not to throw all of them at the play at the same time.
Penalty enforcement is a geometry problem. The play gives us the facts. The rule book gives us the theorems and postulates. Our job is to apply them in the proper sequence until we arrive at the answer.
When a play seems unusually complicated, especially when an end zone is involved, solve the problem in order.
Quiz
Read the quiz stem and then choose the best answer.
3/20 at the A-6. A12 retreats into the end zone, is hit, and fumbles. During the scramble for the loose ball, B44 grasps and twists A12’s facemask. A33 muffs the ball across the end line.
a. Score 2 points for Team B (safety). Enforce the penalty for B44’s personal foul from the succeeding spot (the K-20). Team K will free kick from the K-35
b. Enforce the penalty for B44’s personal foul from the goal line
c. Enforce the penalty for B44’s personal foul from the previous spot
Review Rules 2-13-2, 8-5-2a, 10-4-2d