Football commentary pet peeve: "Game-changing" holding play

[TheNoodleMan]

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I think alot of you are overlooking that if the play has no hold and goes for no gain (instead of a hold and a big gain), then they're looking at 2nd and 10 instead of 1st and 20. 1st and 20 is a drive killer, 2nd and 10 isn't.

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that is a totally different situation than the play we are talking about

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Seeing that this phrase is used in almost every game, I didn't think it had to be play specific to comment on it, but whatever. I really don't care that much.

[utmt40]

Commentators are morons for the most part. I think the games are better off without them. Oh the joys of the mute button.

[Go_Blue88]

woah, that's true. i never really considered that.

what annoys me the most is during the challenges when the announcers constantly repeat, "now, remember, there must be absolute conclusive evidence blah blah blah." eeeeeverytime, even if it's the second or third challenge of the game, they say the same thing. it gets really annoying.

[youtalkfunny]

By "more often than not", I meant "just a little more than half the time". I'll gladly amend that to "almost half the time" if it will chill out the nit in you.

[Jack of Arcades]

Not really. I think it's very rare that such a thing happens. For example, holding on almost every passing play obviously effects it. On a long running play, even a hold away from the run takes out a potential tackler.

[NajdorfDefense]

Much, much more annoying are the frequent references [by good announcers even] to a 'touchdown-saving tackle!'

Uh, dipshti, they are all TD-saving tackles.

Do you see why?

Naj

[SCfuji]

what if the doofus were a better pass protector so he would not have to hold. now can we pour the blame on him.

[Alexthegreat]

The majority of holding penalties take place during running plays and about half the time the hold is away from the ball.

To say the play would have been small without the holding penalty is dumb.

You can't possibly make a black and white assesment of this type of penalty in football. Just about the only penalty that you can say this about is pass interference.

[legend42]

What bugs me is kind of the opposite. When a midgame 2nd and 10 play goes for 12 yards, then the announcer casually says "but it looks like a flag is going to bring this one back."

Then they barely even mention who the penalty is on, show NO replay, and just move on like it's no big deal, even though the drive is essentially killed. I sometimes go back on Tivo to look for the infraction, and often it's a complete phantom hold or just generally a flag that shouldn't have been thrown- that might have changed the whole game. It's more a problem with the structure of football than a fault with the announcers, but it still drives me nuts.

[Jack of Arcades]

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To say the play would have been small without the holding penalty is dumb.

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But to say the play would've been big without the holding penalty is equally dumb. Even if a corner on the opposite side of the field is held, that could be the difference between a 15 yard gain and a 60 yard touchdown.