Offsetting penalties

The offsetting penalties are those committed by two teams simultaneously. Their peculiarity is the cancellation, as the situation on the field doesn’t give the offensive or defensive team an advantage. The best choice will be the replay of the current down.

To become offset, the penalties must be equal in yardage loss. For example, the fifteen-yard penalty will disregard the five-yard violation unless the latter has sanctioned as automatic first down or loss of down. But five-yard penalties cancel each other.

Excessive or injury timeouts are the reason to cancel offset. This double foul is quite rare in modern football.

The next point of attention is the turnovers and penalties before them. This violation excludes the offset from the agenda. If the recovering team has committed the foul before, they lose their position despite the opponents fouled, too. But if the offensive team committed the dead ball foul during the play, the defenders keep possession. In the case of a defensive deadball foul after the play, the offensive live ball foul during the play will offset it.