Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2022 and has been updated.
You’re probably here because someone in the 2024 Super Bowl just committed an egregious pass interference penalty, as dictated by the officials. Or you’re here because the officials missed what was clearly a pass interference penalty, and everyone on social media and in your living room is arguing about what the rule actually means.
It’s the Super Bowl; would you have it any other way?
The pass interference answer applies to both offensive players and defenders, and it’s rather simple (if not always in application).
According to the NFL 2023 rulebook: “It is pass interference by either team when any act by a player more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage significantly hinders an eligible player’s opportunity to catch the ball.”
So what are those acts that can “significantly hinder” a catch attempt? Here we go:
Acts that are pass interference include, but are not limited to:
- Contact by a player who is not playing the ball that restricts the opponent’s opportunity to make the catch;
- Playing through the back of an opponent in an attempt to make a play on the ball;
- Grabbing an opponent’s arm(s) in such a manner that restricts his opportunity to catch a pass;
- Extending an arm across the body of an opponent, thus restricting his ability to catch a pass, and regardless of whether the player committing such act is playing the ball;
- Cutting off the path of an opponent by making contact with him, without playing the ball;
- Hooking an opponent in an attempt to get to the ball in such a manner that it causes the opponent’s body to turn prior to the ball arriving; or
- Initiating contact with an opponent by shoving or pushing off, thus creating separation.
There you have it!
