Officials,
The next SAOA meeting is next Wednesday (10/16/24) at Alton Sportstap, with a 6:30 Kickoff.
Game Mechanics on Passing Plays: Observations from several week #6 games has shown our overall rule knowledge has improved. What is causing our greatest concerns now involves the passing game and dead-ball coverage. We (clinicians) have tried to get across to officials how they are to observe receivers in their area. (Please review your IHSA Football Officials Manual for proper coverage.) We still have wing officials who have become stationary in their coverage area. Wings need to move downfield with a purpose after the ball is thrown (especially on deep passes) to close the distance and improve your visual coverage of the play. This simply means read the play and move accordingly.
We had a play Friday night where the wing official read the play and was positioned on the line of scrimmage and had a receiver in his zone 8-yards down field. The quarterback rolled his way and sent a 30-yard pass to the back corner of the end zone. Unfortunately, the reaction of the wing was very slow in recognizing the pass and getting down the sideline to rule on the sideline catch. Sadly, the television crew covering the game had an excellent look at the play showing the receiver caught the ball inbounds for what should have been ruled a touchdown. We are going to miss calls from time to time, working to be in the best position should always be our goal. You can improve the optics of this type of play by being quicker to react and moving with a purpose. Below is a clip of this type of play. This is the toughest play for wing officials to adjudicate. Remember, put yourself in the best position to make the call.
Other pass plays involved receivers who should have been ruled down (knee on the ground when making the reception) after the reception only to gain additional yardage. We are also still struggling with blowing a play dead after forward progress has been stopped. Nothing good happens after we let the rugby scrum continue. Kill the play.
Once again, our dead-ball officiating rears its ugly head when we do not pay attention to the players after the whistle has blown to stop play. The wing official opposite the direction of the play usually has clean-up duty (observation – keep your head up and on a swivel). When the play starts in the middle of the field both wings and the referee have observation duties. Once the teams huddle you can relax. I observed a goal line play where the runner had scored, and a defensive lineman clearly swung striking his opponent only to go unnoticed by any of the crew members. The referee probably should have seen this action. An opponent does not have to be struck to create a foul (9-4-1, “No player shall fight).” We must catch these actions to avoid bigger problems. Once again, view the video clip below.
Plays/Rule Questions:
Play #1:
There is a short pass to the sideline. The receiver catches the pass and is running between the numbers and sideline, not engaged with a defender. A flag is thrown for an ineligible downfield. During the live-ball play, there is a whistle from the stands. The officials, coaches and players all hear it. The referee states, I know I did not have a whistle. He immediately looks to the three of his officials away from the ball. All three were officiating the play, there were no whistle in their mouths, and they appeared just as shocked and confused. The referee sounds his whistle blowing the play dead. What do you do next? Do any of the Inadvertent Whistle rules apply (4-2-3)?
Question: How does the referee handle this situation and remember there is a flag thrown for an ineligible player downfield. This play happened in a game this past weekend!
Answer:
The referee after blowing the play dead confers with his crew members to ascertain if any of them had blown an inadvertent whistle to which they all replied they had not. He then went to each sideline to inform the coaches what they already knew and that the whistle came from the stands.
In this play, the Inadvertent Whistle rules do not apply as the whistle came from the stands. The Inadvertent Whistle rule covers whistles blown by an official not an outside source. Because this play was blown dead as a result of the whistle blown from the stands, the play did not happen, and the ineligible receiver flag was waved off and the down was replayed.
This play is a very good example of everyone on the crew knowing the rules and how to properly handle a situation not covered by rules.
Play #2:
It is second and seven on A’s 30-yard line when A1 takes the snap from a shotgun position and flips the ball forward to A32 who runs in front of him at A’s 28-yard line. A32 proceeds to run to his right and throw a forward pass to A88 at A’s 35-yard line where A88 is tackled. Is this a legal play? If not, how is it handled?
Ruling: This is a second forward pass during the down. This is a 5-yard spot foul and not a previous spot loose-ball play which is enforced from the spot of the second pass and carries a loss of down. Rule 10-4-4c states, “The basic spot is the spot of the foul for: (c)) An illegal forward pass as in 7-5-2c.” Rule 2-31-5 defines a backward pass (which would have been legal in this play) as, “A pass thrown with its initial direction parallel with or towards the runner’s end line.” It is important for the wing official to signal the direction of the pass (punch the pass forward or backwards) to assist the referee in determining if the pass is legal or not. We need to know the rules to properly determine the direction of a pass and to signal properly.
Good Game Management:
Sometimes even the best officials can get caught watching the play and not officiating the action! How do we overcome this? After our short break while the ball is being set for the next play, we must go through our checklist; down, distance and time on the clock. We must then observe the offense’s formation. Knowing the offense’s tendencies also helps.
The play below illustrates excellent game management. Why do I say this? When you watch this play you will see what might be considered a hold by the center. This action has no effect on the play. Secondly, you will note the ball is snapped from the 12-yard line. The quarterback runs to his right and throws a pass right at the 12-yard line. The wing official is in the correct position to ensure the quarterback has not entered the neutral zone, which would have made the pass illegal. A flag was not thrown for either potential infraction.
Too many times we call the game way too close. Do not go looking for the call of the century as you may not like the outcome! Below is the play described above.
Legal Forward Pass (youtube.com)
Closing:
The message below was received from an area coach after his Friday night game regarding the crew.
The message reads:
“I just wanted to reach out to you to say that I appreciated how well-prepared your crew was on Friday night and how well you and the rest of the crew communicated with me (and I am sure Coach _____ as well). On a personal note, as my son and daughter were waiting for me at the end of the game, one of the officials from your crew handed them each a jolly rancher. As much as I would have hoped the highlight of their night was us pulling off the victory, the jolly rancher from the official took the cake in their eyes, I am not sure which official from your crew it was, but just wanted to tell them thank you. If you could pass that message on, I would greatly appreciate it. Best of luck to you and your crew moving forward. You’re definitely number 1 in my top 5 list. Thank you again.”
The message above demonstrates it is not always the big call that makes your crew number 1, but rather how you take care of all the little things that go along with being prepared to officiate the game. Congratulations on a job well done.
As always, keep your play and rule question coming. Have another good game and have fun.