Weekly Bull 9/4/19
SAN DIEGO COUNTY FOOTBALL OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION, INC.
THE WEEKLY BULL – September 4, 2019
Crew Chief Meeting Time Change – Due to restrictions on our time by the district, we will meet from 6:30 – 7:00 pm.
Meeting This Week – All officials will meet and I expect we will meet in the same rooms as the last time we met. Agenda – Attendance; Bull; Make up Exams; Calibration; Instructional Video
San Diego County Sports Officials Hall of Fame 2019 Induction Ceremony - will take place Tuesday, September 24th at 6:00 pm. So get your tickets and enjoy the comradery and the induction of football and softball official David Hardage. Let’s all welcome him into the Hall of Fame and recognize his contribution to SDCFOA football officiating. You may purchase tickets on the website at https://www.sandiegosportsofficialshof.com/induction-dinner Credit cards will be accepted on the website.
BJ’s Fundraiser is Back and It Earns Us More! – BJ’s is going to credit 20% of our food bill to our Charity Fund! The flyer is attached to this Bull but I believe you can just take a picture of it on your phone and have it in the “wallet” of your IPhone. Thank you Bob Hood for setting this up and thank you BJ’s management for the support!
Targeting, Spearing and Excessive Contact – There are three different types of personal fouls where the opponent takes aim and initiates contact:
Targeting - hits to the head and neck area
Spearing - using the crown of your helmet to deliver blow below the head and neck area
Excessive Contact to a Defenseless Player - Blindside Blocks and Defenseless Receivers or Punt Returners.
* If any one of them is considered flagrant, it is an ejection. Most times they are not considered flagrant.
* Flagrant = "a foul so severe or extreme that it places an opponent in danger of serious injury."
Coaches can teach their athletes to avoid illegal blindside blocks. Initiating the block with the hands and extending the arms, using their body to "shield" or "screen" the opponent, or making contact which is not forceful, can be very successful blocks yet have safe consequences for the defenseless player. I hope this is not new information and we're thinking the same about these fouls.
9/11 Remembrances or Special Ceremonies – If there is something organized this Friday in remembrance of 9/11 we will work with the home team coach and administration to make every effort to adjust the kick off time accordingly. Once a kick off time is agree upon the officiating crew is responsible for seeing that the kick off occurs on time! Again, we will work with the teams and game management on this please. Thank you!
Complete/Incomplete Passes – We do not have the same issues with catch/incomplete as the NFL but one of the same concepts does apply to our game. If a receiver is going to the ground as he begins the catch process, the receiver must control and complete the catch after striking the ground. He must produce the ball and the ball cannot move during the contact with the ground. We will continue to be slow with this call to make sure the catch is completed.
Mercy Rule Before the 4th Quarter – The CIF Mercy Rule begins at the start of the 4th quarter, but, if both coaches agree, they may begin the mercy rule before the beginning of the 4th quarter. If they make that decision, then their decision is final even if the score closes to within 35 points. The running clock will continue. Remember – 8-man football has the same CIF Mercy Rule as 11-man. The clock will stop for the following 4 reasons:
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Score (TD, FG, Safety);
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Team Timeout;
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Official’s Timeout (injury, heat/hydration, etc.);
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Free Kick following a fair catch or awarded fair catch.
DPI Enforcement – Remember this foul is not an automatic 1st down. So, 3rd and 25 – DPI is called, 3rd and 10. Also, be careful with half the distance DPI enforcements…3rd and 15 at the B20. Line to gain is the B5. So, if we have a DPI enforcement it will be half the distance from the B20 to the B10. 3rd down and 5 at the B10
Keys to Great Enforcements – 1) The foul information must come quickly, smoothly and completely from the calling official to the referee. 2) The referee must process the nature of the foul and the game situation to determine if the coach needs to be consulted. If not, provide the umpire with the basics of the enforcement. 3) Referee leaves umpire, HL and LJ to do their thing…while signaling and moving to the new position. 4) 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.
Showing IPad to Officials vs Officials Using IPads for Stats – We are not allowed, by rule, to view or use any video in regards to judgment calls for plays that occur. Coaches offering us the opportunity to view a play on an IPad should be respectfully declined. But, if we as officials are in a situation where we need to check game information such as the correct down, we may use any evidence available, including information on a team’s IPad, to make or confirm correct administration of the game. Remember, statisticians can be your best friend!
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?
Unintentional Contact in the Restricted Area – Please review these enforcements. Unintentional contact in the restricted area calls for a 15 yard unsportsmanlike on the non-player involved. A second offense calls for another 15 yards plus the disqualification of the head coach. Important: This sequence does not couple with any other unsportsmanlike foul on head coach. So Head coach calls you a bad name and is flagged. Then there is contact with head coach. Head coach is not ejected (Case Book page 93) 9.8.1 Situation D. Treat Unintentional Contact as a separate event from all others when it comes to ejecting a head coach. It takes two in each separate case…not combined.
Contact with Coach or Nonplayer on the Field – This foul falls under rule 9-8-1i being on the field except as a substitute or replaced player. 15 yards charged to the offending coach or non-player. These are not charged to head coach – only to the person who commits the act. These unsportsmanlike fouls can couple with other unsportsmanlike fouls for cursing or arguing to cause the ejection of the offending coach or non-player. These do not go automatically to the head coach!
What Fouls Do Automatically Go to Head Coach? – Failure to comply with coin toss, being ready to start game or second half, failure to have his players legally equipped after verifying legality in pregame conference. Plus – Second unintentional contact between a non-player and a game official in the restricted areas while the ball is live is automatic ejection of head coach.
Proper Use of the Whistle - First we have a whistle which signals that a play has ended. This also is a loud whistle. We are careful to make sure we see the ball in possession on the ground, out of bounds, progress stopped, an incomplete pass, or a kick has ended, etc. If we do not see the ball in possession but we assume the play has ended, or we have players combating each other at the end of a play, we don’t use our whistle – we use our voices to YELL that the play has ended or the pass is away, etc. Might be a great time to review the rules regarding inadvertent whistles? When a penalty has been called we use a “staccato whistle” which is a loud repeating whistle. Blow immediately and loud for dead ball fouls, wait until the end of the play for live ball fouls. This is a loud whistle! A "toot" of the whistle (sometimes referred to as the “funny whistle” can be used to get the attention of other officials including the referee. This is a light, repeated whistle just loud enough to get the attention of others.
Observer Program – By the end of week #3 (Sept. 6th) we will have seen 15 of the 35 crews. Great job observers and I’ll continue to include their observations into these Bulls.
Fouls Committed in the End Zone –
Foul by the defense and the result of the play is a safety - When the result of the play is a safety, the goal line is the enforcement spot for fouls by the opponents of the team defending that goal (10-5-2).
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Second and 15 at the A-5. A6 drops back to pass, and is sacked five yards deep in the end zone by B87 who makes the tackle by twisting A6's face mask. RULING: The 15-yard penalty is enforced from the goal line. It will be second and five from the A-15.
If the final result of the play is a touchback, the basic spot is the succeeding spot, typically the 20 yard line. The all-but-one principle applies, so all fouls, except those committed by the team in possession inside their 20 yard line, are enforced from the 20 yard line. Fouls committed by the team in possession behind the 20 yard line (basic spot) are enforced from the spot of the foul.
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B24 intercepts A10’s pass in Team B’s end zone. B24 tries to advance, but is tackled in the end zone before leaving it. During B24’s run, B92 illegally blocked below the waist (a) on the B-4, or (b) in Team B’s end zone. RULING: The basic spot is the B-20 because the final result of the play is a touchback. All-but-one enforce-ment applies: All fouls are enforced from the B-20except fouls committed by the team in possession behind the B-20 which are enforced from the spot of the foul. Result: In (a), Team B’s ball on the B-2, enforced half- the-distance from the B-4. In (b), a safety because enforcement is from Team B’s end zone;
May a team decline the penalty for the offensive foul in the endzone which would result in a safety? Yes, as long as the dead ball spot and the enforcement spot are not both in the endzone.
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K24 punts from his own endzone when teammate K-12 holds in the endzone. Receiver R30 returns the kick for at TD. Ruling: The resulting dead ball spot is a TD, so R can decline the penalty (which would have resulted in a safety) and take the result of the play which is a TD. The holding penalty cannot be “tacked on” as it occurred before the change of possession.
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4th and 10 at the K- 25 yardline. K’s snap to the punter goes over his head and is coming to rest at the K-3 yardline when the kicker illegally kicks the ball out of the back of the endzone. Ruling: R may accept the result of the play (safety) by declining the penalty. If R accepts the penalty, the basic spot is the previous spot as this is a loose ball play and we have a foul by the offense behind the basic spot (3 yardline). K’s ball 4th and 32 from the K 1 ½ yardline. This choice could be handy for a team needing more than a safety, with time running out in the game.
Throwing an illegal forward pass from the endzone may have three options or no options depending on the play:
Rule 7-5-3
If the penalty for an illegal forward pass is accepted, measurement is from the spot of such forward pass. If the offended team declines the distance penalty, it has the choice of having the down counted at the spot of the illegal incomplete forward pass or (if the illegal forward pass is caught or intercepted) of having the ball put in play as determined by the action which followed the catch.
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Defense losing by 5 points. QB drops back and throws forward pass to WR who is in the EZ, WR, in the EZ throws a second forward pass which is intercepted and run in for a TD. Options: Safety if accepted penalty. Safety if the yardage penalty is declined. Or TD if result of the play is chosen by the defense.
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Same play - 2 forward passes, the second of which falls incomplete. Safety. No other choices. There is no action "following a catch or interception" so that choice is not available.