Everyone has noticed the increase in taunting penalties in the NFL this season. Fewer people have noticed a penalty that has increased to an even greater extent this season: Ineligible player downfield.
So far this season there have been 14 ineligible player downfield fouls, compared to just one such foul in the first two weeks of the 2020 season, according to former NFL referee Terry McAulay, who now serves as a rules analyst for NBC Sports.
Although the NFL didn’t announce that ineligible players downfield would be a point of emphasis, the way the league did with taunting, it appears that the officials were told to call the penalty more strictly this year than they did last year.
It was well known that many teams were regularly getting away with having their linemen blocking downfield on passing plays, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the NFL is cracking down. What remains to be seen is whether offensive linemen will adjust and fewer penalties will be committed, or whether the officials will again start to look the other way on a foul that favors the offense.
