New NFL rule will prevent teams from burning clock with repeated intentional penalties

A new rule will ensure NFL teams cannot commit multiple intentional fouls on the same play in order to run out the clock. As a result, teams hoping to burn valuable seconds by intentionally holding defenders — a move made famous by John Harbaugh’s Ravens in recent years — won’t have the same latitude late in games.

The official rule states: A team may not commit multiple fouls during the same down in an attempt to manipulate the game clock. The penalty for a violation is 15 yards. The game clock will also be reset to where it had been prior to the previous snap.

While that won’t stop a move like Harbaugh’s intentional holding outright, it will prevent that loophole from being exploited in the future.

The rule needed 24 votes — or 75 percent approval from the league’s owners — and passed. It wasn’t the only new policy to make its way through the legislative process and into the 2017 rulebook.

The latest reform is a small change that addresses a problem NFL teams haven’t yet run across, but it should help clarify what will and won’t fly late in games. Adding this rule ensures no team will have a shot at a fourth-quarter comeback erased thanks to loophole-exploiting intentional holding penalties.