[JustMy2Cents]

Stop on the "dead ball" vice on the whistle?

Sorry guys, as a coach I have to disagree with this one.

While I understand the safety issue involved with late hits after the "dead ball" yet prior to the whistle, I find it necessary to teach the kids to play till they hear a whistle (in fact, my college coach taught us to play till the "last shrill of the whistle" and no, we didn't get flagged for a ton of late hits).

How is a 16-year-old kid supposed to know when a "dead ball" exists? Half the time, a 16-year-old kid don't know the difference between mashed 'tators and scrambled eggs.

I'll give you one instance that happened this year why, as a coach, you HAVE to teach your kids to play to the whistle:

1) K punts
2) K shanks punt, the ball rolls to a stop by the sideline.
3) While the ball is technically "dead" at this point, there is no whistle
4) R picks up the "dead ball" and runs the doggone thing down the sideline from about the R40 to the K3
5) Every K player thought it was a "dead ball," which, in actuality it was...but no whistle, and as a result, K stopped pursuing the loose ball.

So, as an official, which coach do you want to tell you made a mistake to, K or R? And if you want to see a livid coach on the sideline, call that punt return back to the "dead ball" spot on the R40, and tell him that, technically, "we had a 'dead ball' but we just couldn't get the whistle blown in time."

In this particular instance, the officials ruled correctly, in my opinion (contrary to what the officials that brought this topic up would believe), and ruled the ball for R, 1-G from the K3. There was no whistle, play continues.

Also, I guess we would be able to remove the portion of the rulebook involving IWs. Since we are going to play to the "dead ball" then there would never be an IW.

Officials rely on the whistle to signal the end of the play just as much as the coaches and the players do.

[Edited by JustMy2Cents on Oct 23rd, 2003 at 07:30 AM]