Football
Coach Communication Done Well
Communication between officials and coaches is extremely important and is an essential element of a properly officiated game. Most coaches identify good communication as...
Yawner? Blowout? Guess Again
Iremember sitting at the breakfast table on the morning of a late-season game between two cellar-dwellers. One official, a garrulous person whose normal speaking...
Dead-Ball Officiating in the Side Zone
How does the runner usually react when he’s been tackled? The norm in college and pro football is that runners lay patiently after they...
The 5 D’s Of Football Success
Here's a list of qualities starting with D from Steve Shaw, CFO National Coordinator of Football Officials, that, if employed, can help any official...
A Gridiron Geometry Lesson
Laypeople may think there isn’t a big difference between spots, lines and planes, but officials need a clear understanding of those geometry terms. Very briefly, a spot is...
Literally Lateral
When San Antonio Trinity University used 15 backward passes to score the winning touchdown on the last play of an October 2008 game against...
Snap, Lapse, Perhaps?
It’s impossible to call a perfect game. Even at the higher levels, where every official is graded in every game, a perfect score doesn’t...
It’s OK to pick up a flag or put one down late
Back in the day there were two commonly accepted officiating axioms: Don’t pick up a flag once it’s put down and don’t put one down late. The idea...
Three of the Toughest Judgment Calls
In most seasons, false starts are the most frequently occurring fouls and arguably the foul that requires the second least amount of judgment (calling...
Safety Glasses
The opening kickoff sails over the goalline. The ball is muffed in flight by the receiver and rolls away. The ball is recovered and...
The ABCs of A-B-A
T he ABCs of A-B-A A rare and challenging play involves a double change of possession, known as an A-B-A play.
In PlayPic A, the...
Judgment Necessary at Line of Scrimmage
Judgments are a large part of football officiating. All rules require some degree of judgment. Perhaps the simplest application is determining whether a team has too many players on...
Calm on Broken Plays
Coaches, players and fans are allowed to panic when a play goes awry. Officials, on the other hand, must react to broken plays as if they're routine...
Take a Number
What's in a number? You'd be surprised how some NFL officials wound up with their uniform numbers, and the history behind those identifying digits.
On...
3 “When In Doubt” Judgment Guidelines
According to Webster, judgment is the ability to make a decision. An official’s judgment calls will be questioned more often than his or her...
Ditch the Dinosaur Mechanics
The semifinal game was sold out. Although the visitors were seeded lower, their playoff performance made them the favorite. The home team held its...
Intentional Groundrules
Intentional grounding is likely the rule that requires the most judgment. Any rule that requires an official to determine “intent” is prone to inconsistent...
Team B Fouls on a Touchdown
Depending on the rules code, a scoring team may or may not have an enforcement option if the opponent commits a foul during the...
What Happens When the Neutral Zone Expands?
The neutral zone is one of the basic tenets of a football game. In practical terms it’s the space between the offensive and defensive...
6 Elements of Your Officiating Anatomy
The human anatomy is an intricate structure consisting of 11 systems and containing more than 37 trillion cells. Officiating requires the use of many...
Breaking a Ball-Hawking Habit
The desire to rubberneck, gawk, stare and gape is often an involuntary behavior. Humans are innately curious and are often attracted to the most...
Official/Player Communication Influences Conduct
Trying to manage a football game would be nearly impossible without effective and pointed communication. Although managing players is primarily the responsibility of the coaching staff, officials can facilitate the...
Movement Only One Part of the Job for Umpires
It takes a great deal of fortitude to venture into the jumble of flailing arms and bodies where only linebackers dare to tread. But in addition to being...
Foul and Fumble? A Formula for Flaws
Change of possession. Foul in the end zone. Fumble forward and out of bounds.
That’s a lot of action on a single play. And it...