Challenging a Non-Reviewable Play

I think I found a way to cheat the system. On thanksgiving Houston was awarded a touchdown on a play where (I think) #28 ran after being down by contact. The play would have been reviewed. Except coach Schwartz threw the challenge flag. During the off season a rule was put in place to penalize a team from using the flag in inappropriate situations as part of the automatic review system. A 15 yard penalty and the review which should have been automatic on a score is not allowed.

I know some will say this is dumb but this could happen. If during a close loss Anquan Boldin is ruled to have caught a touchdown and the call was iffy couldn't Harbaugh throw the flag and halt the review process. This could be the case for any turn over or score. Any coach could do this the rest of the season. Any one have any thoughts about this?

Sure seems that way. Which is one of the reasons that the rule might be overturned IN SEASON. You could take that same situation. Kubiak could have thrown the flag to prevent the review.

I think the rule only applies if the offending party would BENEFIT from the review. Obviously, in the situation you're describing, Harbaugh and the Ravens would NOT benefit. Therefore, the rule would not apply and the play WOULD continue to be reviewed.

This is what I heard reported somewhere else, and I do not have a primary source (i.e. the rule text itself) available. I could very well be wrong.

someone call Harbaugh!

Interesting thought especially since in Houston they enforced the 15 yard penalty on the kickoff.

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Originally Posted by ace2die

I think I found a way to cheat the system.... Any one have any thoughts about this?

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Yes, it was discussed pretty thoroughly last week:

http://russellstreetreport.com/forum...9-Thread/page9

The rule books says:

"If there is a foul that delays the next snap, the team committing that foul will no longer be able to challenge the previous ruling."

Apparently, the officials have been instructed to interpret that as meaning "the team committing that foul will no longer be able to benefit from a challenge of the previous ruling" (even if it should cause an automatic review). That interpretation would not prevent the officials from doing a review in the situation you described, since it would be the other team that might benefit from the challenge, not the team that threw the challenge flag. So there's no way to "short-circuit" the review process if doing so might benefit you, other than running a play before the replay official can push his button.