Pass Interference Question

[Bulldog75]

New official here.

I see in the rulebook that for there to be interference, there has to be a legal forward pass that crosses the neutral zone.  The interference summary also says infractions are only interference infractions if the receiver had the opportunity to receive a catchable forward pass.

Am I reading it correctly that there is no DPI penalty if the ball is not thrown to that receiver?  There could still be a holding penalty if the defender uses his hands or arms to hold or obstruct the receiver.  And there could be a personal foul for running into or tackling the receiver.

And in reading approved rulings, the ball must already be in flight for DPI to occur.  But OPI can happen before or after the ball is passed, and OPI can occur regardless of where the ball is thrown as long as it is a legal forward pass.  Correct?

[ElvisLives]

Generally, correct. If the eligible player has no possible opportunity to attempt to reach/catch the legally forward passed ball, then contact on that player by an opponent can not be pass interference (offense or defense). Philosophically, if the contact is NOT a personal foul (striking, targeting, BBW, etc.),  but does restrict or impede the eligible player, and the eligible player is in the same 1/3 of the field as where the pass comes down, we’ll rule holding. If the eligible player is in the other 2/3 of the field, and the passer doesn’t look in that direction or appear to want to throw the ball to that area, then no foul. Mechanically, an official observing an eligible receiver, who sees some action that restricts the receiver must ‘take a peek’ at the QB, to see if he is interested in that receiver. If so, then that is holding, right now. If the action persists and the passer throws to that area of the field, then the action becomes pass interference.
 

[ElvisLives]

And in reading approved rulings, the ball must already be in flight for DPI to occur.  But OPI can happen before or after the ball is passed, and OPI can occur regardless of where the ball is thrown as long as it is a legal forward pass.  Correct?

That is the technical reading of the rule. However, by philosophy, if the action by the Team A player is well away from the area where the ball is thrown, and doesn’t affect the result of the pass, then we pass on the OPI call. But, we have to be aware of what is happening all across the field. A Team A player might ‘pick’ a defender in an area that turns out to be well away from the area where the ball is thrown, but the ‘pick’ prevents the defender from switching to the receiver that eventually makes the catch. If we can see all of that, then we can rule OPI.