tims4wins said:
I fully agree with this in theory. However, I think the problem is with writing the rule. How would you write pass interference in the rulebook here?
The rule is written right now that a player must "significantly hinder the progress of an eligible receiver’s opportunity to catch the ball." When you then look at the list of things that includes, it is the following:
(a) Contact by a player who is not playing the ball that restricts the opponent’s opportunity to make the catch.
(b) Playing through the back of an opponent in an attempt to make a play on the ball.
(c) Grabbing an opponent’s arm(s) in such a manner that restricts his opportunity to catch a pass.
(d) Extending an arm across the body of an opponent, thus restricting his ability to catch a pass, and regardless of whether the player committing such act is playing the ball.
(e) Cutting off the path of an opponent by making contact with him, without playing the ball.
(f) Hooking an opponent in an attempt to get to the ball in such a manner that it causes the opponent’s body to turn prior to the ball arriving.
(g) Initiating contact with an opponent by shoving or pushing off, thus creating a separation in an attempt to catch a pass.
What would I do? I would make B, D, E, and G into illegal contact. That way the only things that are DPI are if you are not playing the ball in any way and somehow restricting an opponent (not just with your head facing the wrong way), grabbing an arm to prevent a catch, and hooking an opponent so they can't make a catch. Everything else I would move to the illegal contact section.
