San Diego County Football Officials Association - THE WEEKLY BULL – September 11, 2024
No Meeting This Wednesday Sept. 11th – Do some serious film study, select a rule to study and its related case book plays.
Need to Take Your Mechanics and/or Rules Test? – Contact Scott Carroll
Towels – Narrow towels must be at least 4” in width. Measure your game card, some of them are exactly 4” and can help in being accurate in allowing a legal towel to be worn.
Equipment, Adornment & Face Paint – I think we’re seeing a definite improvement and our coaches have been a great help. Please remain consistent as we continue. Remember, if a player is sent out for one play, they cannot be “bought back in” with a time out. Out for one play same as helmet coming off, bleeding, or an injured player.
Swinging Gate – Be prepared for those swinging gate plays. We must know the rules and understand that they must run the play perfectly. A swinging gate may, or may not, be in a scrimmage kick formation. Do they have a player with their knee on the ground 7 or more yards behind the line of scrimmage in position to receive the snap and another player 3-yards or less behind that player in position to attempt a place kick? If so, then they are in a scrimmage kick formation (even if the linemen are off to the side of the field) and the center gets protection, and the offense is allowed to have numbering exceptions.
Back Judges and Kickoff Mechanics - Do not permit the kicker to bring the ball into the game for Kickoffs. The Crew must have a consistent Mechanic to get the kicking ball in the hands of the Back Judge. Do not hand the ball to the kicker until there are 11 players in formation for the Receiving Team and Kicking Team. Do not march off penalties enforced on Kickoffs. Go to the spot resulting from the enforced Penalty and Signal the Foul being enforced. The ball will be at your feet, and after signaling the penalty, pick up the ball and follow your normal routine before handing it to the kicker.
Counting Players – Reminder, there is absolutely no excuse for missing the counting of the offense or defense. It must be accurately completed each and every play!
Transitions – The expectation is that the one-minute transitions be completed in one minute or less. So far, observers are commenting positively on our crews’ efforts. Keep up the intensity.
Keys to Great Enforcements – The foul information must come quickly, smoothly and completely from the calling official to the referee. After using preliminary signals, it is wise to open your radio and state the foul and player number so the whole crew knows that information. The referee must process the nature of the foul and the game situation to determine if the coach needs to be consulted. If not, the Referee leaves umpire, HL and LJ to do their thing…while signaling and moving to the new position. The crew must be ready with the clock status when the referee faces the crew.
Injuries on the Field - If you are in the area of the injured player and an official’s time out has been taken, pause and stay with the athlete until help arrives. Just a nice thing to do for an athlete in pain. If you have information that may help the trainer determine the nature of the injury you should offer the info to him/her. It’s just common sense and helpful to the athlete and the trainer. If we decide to declare an official’s time out for injury, then only an outside the 9-yard mark conference may be held. The coach may not come on the field and meet with his team in the huddle….team must go to the sideline and then any number of coaches can come on the field and meet with individuals or groups or the whole team (just like normal). Again, only if the referee has granted an official’s time out! PLEASE, have the teams back on the field and ready to play when the injured player is safely off the field. Prompt resumption of play is critical to the overall game tempo.
Coaches Assisting with Difficult Situations – It is generally appreciated when the officials seek the coach’s assistance when working with one of his players who is losing his composure on the field. Coaches may ask that you watch a particular player on the other team, but they will still help with controlling their own player. It is important that we get information to coaches when we’ve warned a player so they can follow up with the player and understand that we’ve already warned him.
Keep Your Sidelines Clear But Your Focus on the Field – We’re doing an outstanding job of keeping the sidelines safe for ourselves and for coaches and non-players. This is an important portion of your pre-snap routine, but less so when we get into the Red Zone. Remember, we must be fully present and ready to officiate the next play. If we’re fixated on the status of the team box, maybe we’re not ready for the snap?
Observer Program – By the end of week #5 9/20 we will have seen almost every crew. Great job observers and I’ll continue to include their observations into these Bulls which are getting a bit lengthy - LOL
Forward/Backward and Complete/Incomplete Passes – We continue to be challenged with these new offensive schemes. Properly ruling on quick and delayed passes to the flanks from shotgun creates a situation where the line of scrimmage officials must immediately judge forward or backward. We are now signaling with our arm the direction of the pass. The “off official” is responsible for signaling forward or backward. If the “near official” does not get help, he/she must make the call and signal accordingly. When in question, the ball is forward.
