I have a question about a penalty and I need somebody to help me. I've been watching football for over 15 years, as has my best friend. We couldn't figure this out, nor could a 35+ year old friend of mine setting in front of us. The play in question was from the Round 1 game between Clay Co and Rockcastle Co. Rock had the ball and called a running play. Dusty Miller picked up 10-15 yards and was tackled. The Tigers defenders was giving him a little extra hitting after they tackled him and a flag was thrown. After the officials talked, the referee signaled to the booth two penalties. He signaled "pass interference Clay Co. Personal foul Clay Co." Ok, I understand the personal foul. What I don't understand is how can you have pass interference on a running play. It wasn't a trick play. It was just a toss left. The second strange thing was that the official that threw the flag on the personal foul didn't throw it until Miller had been tackled. Why wouldn't he have thrown it earlier if there was pass interference.

I have a question about a penalty and I need somebody to help me. I've been watching football for over 15 years, as has my best friend. We couldn't figure this out, nor could a 35+ year old friend of mine setting in front of us. The play in question was from the Round 1 game between Clay Co and Rockcastle Co. Rock had the ball and called a running play. Dusty Miller picked up 10-15 yards and was tackled. The Tigers defenders was giving him a little extra hitting after they tackled him and a flag was thrown. After the officials talked, the referee signaled to the booth two penalties. He signaled "pass interference Clay Co. Personal foul Clay Co." Ok, I understand the personal foul. What I don't understand is how can you have pass interference on a running play. It wasn't a trick play. It was just a toss left. The second strange thing was that the official that threw the flag on the personal foul didn't throw it until Miller had been tackled. Why wouldn't he have thrown it earlier if there was pass interference.

If it was obviously a running play, I'd bet that the foul called was actually illegal block in the back, not pass interference. The signals look similar enough, I guess.

 

Secondly, the personal foul apparently occurred after the play was over since "the Tigers defenders was giving him a little extra hitting after they tackled him."

 

I think a lot of this type of confusion would be eliminated if more stadiums were capable of using a referee microphone. Sometimes the bad call is made by the officials, sometimes it's made by the PA Announcer.

 

offside