mpx42 said:
This would never, ever happen.
Two years ago, for example, John Harbaugh had about 14 seconds left in the Super Bowl and a 5 point lead, and he wanted to take a safety, but instead of just snapping it out of the back of the end zone, he instructed his players to just grab hold of all the 49ers jerseys and hold them, tackle them, do whatever in order to waste as much time off the clock as possible. That's because the worst case scenario there was...a safety, which was what they were going for anyway. It let the punter run around for 10 seconds in the end zone before stepping out, and made the return on the free kick the final play of the game.
That's a bit different because the offense got the worst possible rulebook result, a safety. There is no provision at all for awarding a touchdown to the team on defense.
It's not something referees would do for a simple pass interference, not at all. The point that it would be called is the point at which you start doing something that no longer looks like what we think of as an attempt to play defense. So, you could probably get away with pass interference if your defensive back just obliterates the guy the moment the ball is thrown his way, but if you just go and tackle all of their eligible receivers at the snap, I wouldn't be surprised to see the call made. I think if you actually drew 5 holding flags, say, they'd award the touchdown, and I'd have been especially unsurprised to see that call if it's the Patriots who were doing it.