Mike, I likely didnt explain properly because the answer is yes. I understand football, as do you.
Scenario 1 - 4th and goal at the 4 yard line with 1 minute to go. No timeouts for your team. You are losing 21-17.
Scenario 2 - 3rd and 10 at your 30 yard line. 1st quarter. 0-0 score
Scenario 3 - 3rd and 19 from midfield 1 second left in the half with your team up 24-3
In NO scenario would an interception be less harmful than an incompletion. So, yes. Thats true.
But an incompletion in scenario 1 is more harmful than an interception in scenario 3.
So yes.... you are right in the fact that in any one specific scenario, an interception is never preferable to an incompletion. But there are situations where an incompletion in that particular scenario is worse to a team than an interception in the other scenario. That was my point.