Rules question for playaction on 3rd and long.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but here goes.

I understand the no playaction on third and long in general as it is not called very often, but why is it that you cant call playaction on third and long in some situations? The point of calling playaction is to catch a defense out of position and off guard. 

Examples:

1. I'm on the opponents 25 yard line (in field goal range) lets say less than 2 minutes in the 2nd quarter opponent has no timeouts score is tied, its first and 10 I run the ball get a yard, run clock down to 1:25. 2nd and 9 I run the ball get no yards, run clock down to 0:45. 3rd and 9, I call playaction as the offense has shown it is trying to run the clock down the first two downs and settle for a field goal to take the lead into the half, but BOOM the defense gets caught out of position and a touchdown is scored on a pass over the top.

2. You have a one score lead in the fourth quarter and need to run out the clock. Let's say 2 minutes left your on your own 25 and your opponent has 2 timeouts. 1st and 10 you run the ball no gain he calls a timeout, clock at 1:54. 2nd and 10 you run the ball for 3 yards he calls a timeout, clock at 1:45. 3rd and 7 you call a playaction as he is expecting the run since you could run off an extra 40 seconds but you fake the run and go over the top for a first down and are able to run out the clock and win the game.

Now I know this isn't something to be taken advantage of but to call it situationally should be allowed in my opinion if under the right circumstances, to have it against the rules no matter the situation seems a bit unrealistic. As I think playaction is only called like 5%-2% on third down in the NFL regardless of the distance, but it does happen.

Hi mate this topic has been discussed over and over again I am not sure where the other threads are but I was the one who started such a topic. Maybe @brza37 or @bishbosh1985 can remember where this was?

ah, yea didn't see anything from what I looked through. But I figured it may be something to at least start a conversation on. I do like the intentions of the rule but it's kind of a blanket coverage for something that could be situational. But when in doubt I'll stick to the rule book.

Q: About this. 

Is it allowed to call a Play action play, and then use 1 audible on the RB to block or run another route ( So that its not a Play action anymore? )

FaberAK wrote:ah, yea didn't see anything from what I looked through. But I figured it may be something to at least start a conversation on. I do like the intentions of the rule but it's kind of a blanket coverage for something that could be situational. But when in doubt I'll stick to the rule book.

I understand your concerns but originally, we allowed leeway for some situations like you posted above. But that ultimately lead to alot of in-game pauses and discussions or post-game complaints about whether a certain PA was sim or used in a reasonable siuation. After a bunch of discussion on another forum about the issue we changed to this blanket rule because its much easier to enforce and follow. And people want to enjoy the game with reasonably sim situations rather than have long discussions in-game about possible rule violations because we left too much grey area for interpretation.

Rodgers wrote:Q: About this. 

Is it allowed to call a Play action play, and then use 1 audible on the RB to block or run another route ( So that its not a Play action anymore? )

No, we used to allow that but with the previous playcall feature on showing a PA play was called and debates on whether the play itself causes AI problems rather than the actual fake, it also lead to a lot of disputes so we decided not to allow PA at all in 3rd and longer than 5 situations.

I've argued similarly before that it should just be allowed as most scenarios it is conceivably an option. The defence has the ability to pass commit in 3rd and long which negates the AI flaw.

I think it should be allowed but not used more than twice a game on 3rd and long, but usually the consensus is for banning it altogether.

Can I just check though. If you are in clear FG (let's say inside 25) range and do it accidentally, are you still allowed to kick a FG?

No, the PA rules must stand as they are until there's an official change.

Ergo, if you do it (intentionally or not) - it must be penalised as per rules.

As Brza said, too much of a grey area - even by allowing it in 'certain situations' or X amount of times per game, it is not easily policed.

For the newer guys here, we spent an age deciding on this one so don't worry, everything you can think of has already been considered.

Thanks for the link for the old discussion forum on this. It seems like it was a good debate. I get it though for the simplicity of enforcing the rule, so it makes sense. Just thought I'd get some input on the situation. Thanks for all the feedback guys.