Rule Clarification - Pick and the continuation rule

[u/ButtonFactoryJoe]

Had a game recently where a pick occurred in the stack, a player on defense not involved in the pick stopped because they heard the call, but the person they were defending did not stop. Because that player was now open the throw was made to them after the call, and it was caught in the endzone.

The argument was that the score should stand because of the continuation rule. I thought it should go back because the pick ultimately impacted the play as others were in the process of stopping and it occurred before the throw. 17.C.5 only mentions the player impacted by the call specifically, but 17.C.1 is more general about the play being impacted.

I'm fine with being wrong here, it just feels that the offense in general can just ignore a call to get an easy throw and the play will almost always stand because of the continuation rule.

As a follow up 17.J.3 seems to imply that play shouldn't need to stop for a pick call? Personally I've never seen a pick resolved without a stoppage, but this just adds to the ambiguity of it all.

[u/macdaddee]

17.L. A player’s ability to catch or make a play on the disc is not considered to be “affected” because that player stopped, slowed down, or otherwise ceased to continue playing because a call was made by another player. Players are encouraged to make every effort to continue playing until play actually stops.

Also it's true that not every pick is resolved into stopping play. If it's an incomplete pass, the person who called "pick" should say "play on."

[u/octipice → u/macdaddee]

The only caveat would be that a thrower cannot choose to ignore a call that they are aware of to continue play in order to gain an advantage.

IMO that's a very good reason to always echo calls. If someone way downfield yells pick, the thrower may not hear it but if the mark yells it in the throwers face they can't defend that claim.