Question about a call and its name
- Thread starter bigeddike
- Start date
Ok, so it was called by a side guy on the WR on his side who asks if he's on or off...doesn't this seem to be a bit weird?
It's weird in that there was obviously a breakdown in communication between the wideout and the linesman or line judge. No way for me to know why that happened. I've worked with wing officials who could have been more helpful to players but weren't, for any number of reasons. And I worked many, many games as a linesman and I've had players walk out there and park themselves and not listen to what's said about being in a legal position. I have no way of knowing which happened in your game, but for some reason, the wide out must have been lining up over the ball.
A player should never ASK if he's on or off the line. TELL the L or H where he wants to be, because it's not the official's job to know what formation the offense called or where the player is supposed to be. It's the player's job to know. I'd have players tell me if they were on or off the line and I'd tell them if they were good, and how to know if they were OK. (This is a little more complicated for twins or trips, but for one split end or flanker it's easy. If he was off, I'd have extend that arm to show him off so the U could tell the TE was uncovered and eligible. If he was on, both arms are at my side. I'd tell the widest players that if they want to be off the line, look for my arm to signify that they're off.)
A player lining up across the ball, in an offside position is never OK, but I have no way of knowing if he was being told that he was too far up and didn't hear it, or if the linesman just wasn't communicating. Could go either way. (My fellow officials will know that "offsides" is not the termanology used in NFHS, but I'm using it because it's what most readers will know.)
A player should never ASK if he's on or off the line. TELL the L or H where he wants to be, because it's not the official's job to know what formation the offense called or where the player is supposed to be. It's the player's job to know. I'd have players tell me if they were on or off the line and I'd tell them if they were good, and how to know if they were OK. (This is a little more complicated for twins or trips, but for one split end or flanker it's easy. If he was off, I'd have extend that arm to show him off so the U could tell the TE was uncovered and eligible. If he was on, both arms are at my side. I'd tell the widest players that if they want to be off the line, look for my arm to signify that they're off.)
A player lining up across the ball, in an offside position is never OK, but I have no way of knowing if he was being told that he was too far up and didn't hear it, or if the linesman just wasn't communicating. Could go either way. (My fellow officials will know that "offsides" is not the termanology used in NFHS, but I'm using it because it's what most readers will know.)
Lining up offsides is one of the more stupid ways to draw a flag in football. There's no excuse for it. Lineup correctly.
That's true on a well-lined field, field turf or those beautiful, well-manicured pads of bermuda grass.
Not all fields are lined well. Some are horrible. A field that only has the 5-yard grid lines, but no hash marks, can be especially challenging and it's important that players and officials communicate.
Last year I had a game moved to a Monday night because of strong storms and heavy rain the Thursday and Friday when it was scheduled (you might remember that weekend, there was a lot of flooding around the state). The field wasn't marked well to begin with, but they had 8-9 inches of rain and it did a number on the paint and the field was so wet that if you just stood still in one spot mud would come up around your shoes. No way to get a mower or line painter on the field, but they wouldn't have mattered because by the end of the first quarter the field was torn apart and the teams were nearly indistinguishable. The game started as blue v. white but was soon brown v. brown. Lining up right that night was practically a lost cause.
Were you lenient with the lining up "offsides" flag? What term does the NFHS use instead of offsides?
We were lenient. We are always lenient when we can talk to a player and he will listen. None of the guys I work with wants to throw flags. if we can avoid it, we will. It's called preventive officiating.
Offsides is a live ball foul, which is why the NFHS only has encroachment. Not sure if it's still like this in the NCAA or NFL, but it was such that if the defense jumped across the neutral zone, he had the chance to get back onside, so it wasn't a foul unless the ball was snapped while he were still "offsides." If a defensive player jumped across and made contact or caused the offense to move, then it was a foul when it happened, which is deadball -- hence "encroachment."
Offsides is a live ball foul, which is why the NFHS only has encroachment. Not sure if it's still like this in the NCAA or NFL, but it was such that if the defense jumped across the neutral zone, he had the chance to get back onside, so it wasn't a foul unless the ball was snapped while he were still "offsides." If a defensive player jumped across and made contact or caused the offense to move, then it was a foul when it happened, which is deadball -- hence "encroachment."
