Defensive Holding -- 5 yards and an automatic first down

[PurplePorsche]

Curious as to thoughts on the curious defensive holding infraction -- 5 yards and an automatic first down.  It's curious to me for a number of reasons.  Offensive holding is 10 yards and no first down -- why the difference?  An offensive hold can be just as impactful as a defensive hold -- a defensive hold may prevent a Justin Jefferson escaping a double move for a big gain; an offensive tackle pulling down a Jonathan Greenard may prevent a sack; a fumble; or hit leading to a game-changing INT.  In other words, a well-timed hold may be worth way more than the infracton -- and half the time the player will likely get away with no flag.  So, again, why the difference in the penalty?

At 5 yards and an automatic first down, the penalty seems both over and under penal.  It's fourth and 20 and a little tug on a receiver running a 5-yard route nets an automatic first down -- doesn't seem appropriate.  By the same token, giving a bear hug to a receiver because you are burned on a double more should merit more than 5 yards, and, in certain circumstances, the automatic first down element is essentially meaningless.

The thought comes to mind because I am seeing more and more teams using defensive holding as a tactic to prevent comebacks.  Detroit was doing it in spades, and I saw other teams doing it as well.  If you grab a receiver and it costs your team 5 yards, it will take the offensive team forever to get down the field in situations where trading 5 yards and some time off the clock is worth a whole lot more than potentially giving up a chunk play.  

All things considered, I like the idea of a 10-yard penalty and no automatic first down for defensive holding.  It straddles the line between too much and too little.

[Chuckf]

Been asking the same question for years.

[medaille]

I don’t think it matters until it gets called consistently. If you have a team that is holding a lot, and the refs limit themselves to only calling it once or twice a game, it doesn’t really matter what the penalty actually is.

Like offensive holding, it’s one of those penalties that probably could get called every play if you really want to aggressively call it. If this was a fair league, you’d have to have some sort of process for ensuring refs called it consistently, game to game, crew to crew.

[SurfnRide]

Curious as to thoughts on the curious defensive holding infraction -- 5 yards and an automatic first down.  It's curious to me for a number of reasons.  Offensive holding is 10 yards and no first down -- why the difference?  An offensive hold can be just as impactful as a defensive hold -- a defensive hold may prevent a Justin Jefferson escaping a double move for a big gain; an offensive tackle pulling down a Jonathan Greenard may prevent a sack; a fumble; or hit leading to a game-changing INT.  In other words, a well-timed hold may be worth way more than the infracton -- and half the time the player will likely get away with no flag.  So, again, why the difference in the penalty?

At 5 yards and an automatic first down, the penalty seems both over and under penal.  It's fourth and 20 and a little tug on a receiver running a 5-yard route nets an automatic first down -- doesn't seem appropriate.  By the same token, giving a bear hug to a receiver because you are burned on a double more should merit more than 5 yards, and, in certain circumstances, the automatic first down element is essentially meaningless.

The thought comes to mind because I am seeing more and more teams using defensive holding as a tactic to prevent comebacks.  Detroit was doing it in spades, and I saw other teams doing it as well.  If you grab a receiver and it costs your team 5 yards, it will take the offensive team forever to get down the field in situations where trading 5 yards and some time off the clock is worth a whole lot more than potentially giving up a chunk play.  

All things considered, I like the idea of a 10-yard penalty and no automatic first down for defensive holding.  It straddles the line between too much and too little.

Detroit played this one perfectly against us.  They were mugging our guys 10 yards down the field but the refs decided to let the players play and our defenders should have started doing the same thing.   We didn't and you saw the outcome.