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Got to thinking about penalties lately and the defensive holding penalty is one that can be frustrating and hard to understand.
We've all seen situations where it's third and 25 and the defensive is called for holding. The offensive team gets an automatic first down. It seems to me it should be third and 20. In other words, take the yardage and replay third down.
I do realize that the defense could use this penalty to their advantage by holding a player to prevent a big play down field. So that's probably why it's an automatic first down. But perhaps it should be like the face mask penalty and based on the severity of the hold and whether or not it prevented an actual catch or not. I do see that as potentially problematic, where referees now have to determine the extend of the hold. Thoughts?
We've all seen situations where it's third and 25 and the defensive is called for holding. The offensive team gets an automatic first down. It seems to me it should be third and 20. In other words, take the yardage and replay third down.
I do realize that the defense could use this penalty to their advantage by holding a player to prevent a big play down field. So that's probably why it's an automatic first down. But perhaps it should be like the face mask penalty and based on the severity of the hold and whether or not it prevented an actual catch or not. I do see that as potentially problematic, where referees now have to determine the extend of the hold. Thoughts?
