Something occurred to me in the car as I was driving with Katie to Green Bay from Milwaukee. What does a football team that is playing defense deep within the offensive end - inside the 20 - really gain from penalties that are enforced half the distance to the goal line?

A holding penalty with a team pinned inside of the ten? The defense gets less than 10 yards from the penalty - max 5. And the defensive benefit only goes down from there on more penalties during that series. Sure, the prospect of a safety gets better, but really, how often does a ref make an arm triangle over his head?

Wouldn’t there be more benefit on that same holding penalty not from backing up the offense, but rather having the option to extend the line to gain by the full ten yards? Instead of, say, 1st and 15, it’s now 1st and 20. The full value of the penalty would be enforced if the defense opted for it while simultaneously reducing any offensive incentive to commit penalties pinned deep because of the diminishing returns for the defense.

Of course, the defense would be given the opportunity to accept the penalty as either half the distance or the full penalty to extend the line to gain. This would insert more strategy into penalties. A defensively savvy team could take a gamble on half the distance and hope to get a safety. Lousier teams on that side of the ball could get real help and allow themselves more space to bend, but not break.