Defensive and Offensive Pass Interference - What to look for

There are six categories for defensive pass interference:

  1.  Contact while not playing the ball:

        a. Defender gets beat and tries to time contact with the ball

  2.  Playing through the back of a receiver

  3.  Grabbing arms, shoulders, neck or head:

        a. Here the defender is trying to pull himself back into the play

  4.  Arm bar across the receiver's body:

        a. Defender puts an arm up to feel where the receiver is and keeps it there

  5.  Cutting off the receiver's path to the ball

        a. Defender slows up to prevent receiver from getting to the ball      or            

        b. Bumps the receiver off the pattern

  6.  Hook and turn of the receiver's body prior to the ball arriving:

        a. Defender is guarding the receiver with one hand in back and one in front; uses hand in back to hook and

            turn the receiver and the other hand to deflect the ball

 

The main question if a team B (defense) player makes contact with an eligible team A (offense) receiver is whether the contact materially impeded the receiver and there was intent to impede. Interference is the proper call if the receiver is trying to play the ball while the defender is playing the receiver. In that case, there is no way the defender can be deemed to be making a valid attempt to intercept the pass.

For that matter, offensive interference would be the call if the defender plays the ball but the receiver plays the defender. 

Categories for offensive pass interference include:

1.    Blocking downfield prior to the pass crossing the neutral zone

2.    Push-off creating separation

3.    Driving through the defender who has established position

4.    Grabbing an elbow, jersey or hip and pulling the defender through and using that move to propel them past the defense

Because the offense knows how the play is designed, pass interference rules apply to team A from the snap. The defense however can only commit interference after a pass is in the air. The offense, again because they know the play's design, has the responsibility to avoid contact with the defense.

Ineligible pass receivers (interior lineman and players neither on the line of scrimmage nor in the backfield) can initiate contact with defenders within a yard of the neutral zone and maintain it for three yards. They commit interference if they contact a defender downfield before a pass that crosses the neutral zone is thrown.

Eligible receivers may initiate contact with a defender within a yard of the neutral zone, but they do not enjoy the same privilege of maintaining the contact for three yards. If they contact a defender within a yard of the neutral zone but drive him downfield, or contact him beyond a yard from the neutral zone, they are guilty of interference, again assuming there is a legal forward pass that crosses the neutral zone.

Getting an angle on pass plays to determine interference is best accomplished by:

    ·     Not getting beat on the play

·        Anticipating the routes of the receivers in your area and adjusting to their patterns

·        Looking between the head and waist

·        Don’t follow the ball.  If you see the head and arms you will know the ball is coming

 

Defensive Pass Interference is not:

    ·        Incidental contact

·        Feet tangled

·        Both looking for the ball

·        Both not looking for the ball

·        Four hands in the air

·        Contact on making a play on the ball or both playing the ball