Last weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs were able to win their third Super Bowl in the last five seasons after they were able to defeat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime.
Following the win, there have been some complaints from 49ers fans and others about the Chiefs not drawing a single offensive holding penalty in the matchup despite there being a number of opportunities for a flag for holding to be thrown.
In response to Kansas City’s lack of holding calls in the Super Bowl, former NFL pass rusher J.J. Watt recently shared an idea during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” via Dov Kleiman.
Watt thinks reducing the holding penalty to five yards would get more officials to call the penalty.
J.J. Watt suggests reducing the penalty for offensive holding from 10 yards to five, via @PatMcAfeeShow
He thinks this will get more officials to call the penalty. pic.twitter.com/I6X9De9h3k
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 18, 2024
That’s certainly an idea that could potentially work, but it could also be difficult for some game officials who have been working in the NFL for more than a handful of years to break their personal habits of what they determine to be a hold and what they believe isn’t a hold.
It’s easy to say that if you change holding from a 10-yard penalty to a five-yard penalty, officials might call these penalties more frequently because it has a lower impact on the outcome of a game, but the execution of calling these penalties more often is something that could potentially take years to perfect.
Officials tend to be more lenient when calling penalties in the playoffs, and for the most part, it makes for a more exciting competition out on the field.
Is this something Watt and others would be willing to sacrifice in order to have offensive holding called more frequently?
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