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DinwiddieProud

VaPreps All State
Gold Member
Dec 9, 2013
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You know the old saying, "you can call holding on every play"? Other than a blatant obvious hold, what do you and other refs watch for? What will you allow that is borderline holding? Will you ever say something to a player ahead of time, warning him about his holding?

Will you speak to a player ahead of time when he is pushing the limit for some other infraction?

When asked respectfully by a player, will you explain why you threw a flag? (And by you, I mean anyone on your crew).

What is your standard for helping a player up off the ground. I have seen an official take a player's hand when there was a big pile and help him up. But it's usually been when the official was trying to get players up and out of the way.

Will you ever say anything complementary to a player during or after a game for either a play or a show of sportsmanship?

DP
 
You know the old saying, "you can call holding on every play"? Other than a blatant obvious hold, what do you and other refs watch for? What will you allow that is borderline holding? Will you ever say something to a player ahead of time, warning him about his holding?

Holding seems so easy, but I'm convinced that you need 7-10 years officiating experience to know when to call holding. You could call it on every play, but 98% of those would be bad calls. First of all, I will usually warn a player about it. More on that in the next answer.

The latest myth about holding is that it's fine as long as the hands are inside. Blockers will have their hands on the chest of a defender and grab jersey, but it's hard to see, so it's legal in there, right? No, it's still illegal to hold. But if a guy getting held is allowing himself to get held -- If he's just dancing with the blocker and not trying to get off the block, I can't tell he's being held. If he's actively trying to get off the block but can't, I can tell. The feet tell the story. I tell people I call holding by watching the feet and they think it's counterintuative, but it works. Imagine this, you tell two boys to stand facing to a wooden telephone pole, One of them has the front of his shirt nailed to the pole but you can't see which. If they start trying to walk around that pole, you're going to be able to tell which one can't move without seeing the front of his shirt.

There are several aspects of holding. It's "grab and restrict." The key is the "restrict." You can grab all day long, but if you don't stop a guy from going where he wants to go, you haven't done very much. Think of a recevier blocking a defensive back downfield. The receiver grabs a jersey but the DB runs with him, makes no effort to get off the block. Is it holding? No one on my crew is calling that.

Did the hold affect the play? A hold by the left tackle on a sweep to the right isn't an issue. We look for holds at the point of attack. If a guy is getting held at the point of attack but he still makes the tackle, he wasn't really restricted from being where he wanted to be, right? I'm not flagging it.

For this reason, when I call holding it's usually a couple seconds after the fact. I want to make sure it affected the play.

One final note on holding. I am going to call the same way for both teams. There have been games where one offensive lineman is just getting worn out. He's holding on practically every play as a means of survival. Since I know that no one there came to watch me throw a flag on every play, I basically let it happen (within reason). However, I'm going to let the other team do the same thing. I've had conversations with coaches about it and most appreciate the position. They yell "#80 is holding!" and I will say "Yes, he was, but if I call that I will call your #32 every time he holds the same way, because I've let #32 slide a lot." With one exception, most coaches think that's fair.

Will you speak to a player ahead of time when he is pushing the limit for some other infraction?

All the time. I talk to players who are close to drawing a flag a lot more than I actually flag them.

When asked respectfully by a player, will you explain why you threw a flag? (And by you, I mean anyone on your crew).
Sure. I think one of the things that would surprise most fans is how much we talk with the players. We explain flags all the time. Anyone who asks us a question respectfully will get an answer in the same fashion. Someone who is just yelling, however, usually won't.

What is your standard for helping a player up off the ground. I have seen an official take a player's hand when there was a big pile and help him up. But it's usually been when the official was trying to get players up and out of the way.

If I can help a player up, I will.

Will you ever say anything complementary to a player during or after a game for either a play or a show of sportsmanship?

Absolutely. I commend good plays and good sportsmanship all the time. Occassionally, there will be a player with exceptional leadership skills to go with sportsmanship. I make a point to tell their coaches about it. Coaches know when they have good leaders and good kids, but hearing that from officials never hurts.

Honestly, that's why I do this. I don't officiate because I like throwing flags, getting yelled at, or want to see myself on the local sports. If that's all it was, no one would do it. But when you're out there, on the field and talking to the players and coaches, working with them to make a better game, it's all worth it. A lot of the thngs that happen out there are funny -- I'd love to know how many times I actually laugh during a game (more than you'd think) -- and the vast majority of the talk on the field with the coaches and players is respectful.
 
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Just to add to what White Hat said, there are situations that you can warn players about and there are plays that have to be flagged. Late hits, cheap shots, blocks below the waist (safety fouls) should always be flagged, no matter the game or the score.

Unsporting conduct, I might give a player or even a captain an opportunity to clean up a situation that's not flagrant but we're not going to do it all night. A quick word to the coach usually cleans it up unless it's a coach who's fueling the situation. Ok, we can handle that with a flag if we aren't going to get any help.
 
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