NFL VP Of Officiating Says Holding Calls Are Sometimes Let Go
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) - The saying "you can throw a flag on every play" has been around as long as the NFL has been, but NFL Vice-President of Officiating Dean Blandino says that's not true, but on some plays, holding calls are ignored.
"Part of our philosophy is that if it (holding) has no affect on the outcome of the play and it's away from the point of attack, maybe if it was at the point of attack we would call it," he said. "But since it wasn't, we're going to let that go. No one wants to have a flag thrown on every play. That wouldn't be good for the game."
Blandino also talked about the new crown of the helmet rule the NFL has implemented this year in which ball carriers aren't allowed to hit defenders with their helmet, and how often he expects that rule to be called.
"It hasn't been called through the first two weeks of the preseason. We don't think it's going to be as wide spread as some people initially thought. We looked at a lot of tape from last year, we came up with five clear cut examples of what will be a foul," he said. "We feel with the rule in place, it will incentivize the players not to lower their heads and the coaches to coach against that technique. We don't think it's going to be that widespread, we're prepared for it if it does happen, but we haven't had it yet in the first two weeks."
Blandino also discussed how the first female official has done so far this preseason and when we may finally see full-time officials.
