[Bob M.]

REPLY: To expand on the great points that Sleeper brought up regarding holding, I may have posted this before. If I did, please excuse…

“You can call holding on every play.” We’ve all heard it a hundred times. Personally, I don’t believe it. And even if you do believe it, and insist on calling it on every play, you won’t be calling it for very long. Offensive holding is certainly worthy of more discussion. Officials have heard many times that we should only call holding when it occurs at the point of attack, i.e. when it occurs at a place and time that may have an impact on the play. But that’s usually where the discussion ends. In my opinion, that’s exactly where the discussion should begin.

More needs to be said about what actually constitutes holding, what types of actions should be flagged. What are the "keys" you look for when you have a player suspect for holding? Let’s take a look at the wording of the Federation’s rule prohibiting “holding.”

NF 9-2-1c: “An offensive player (except the runner) shall not…(c.) Use his hands, arms or legs to hook, lock, clamp, grasp, encircle or hold in an effort to restrain an opponent.”)

I’ve always believed that the operative word in the rule is “restrain.” Unless the act restricts an opponent from moving toward the ball carrier (point of attack), I’d be inclined to let it go.

An NFL friend of mine told me what they look for when a player is suspect for holding at the point of attack: Look for the blockee to make an “unathletic move.” That is look for him to make a move that looks nothing like what an athlete might do if he were pursuing a runner in an unrestricted way. Examples: look for his shoulders to spin away from his direction of movement; look for his arm to be pulled away from the side of his body. And the big one…look for the blockee to “lose his legs.” This last one deserves a better description. When an athlete moves, he typically has his body over his legs, which provide a foundation and balance. If a player is restricted by an opponent in a manner such that either his legs are pulled out from under his upper body, or his upper body is held so that his unrestricted legs move out from under him, he has “lost his legs.” In such cases, when these things take place at or close to the point of attack, you have a hold. Last April together with my friend and NFL umpire Jim Quirk (U #5), I watched about a half-hours worth of NFL films devoted exclusively to holding. The key to holding that they looked for was the blockee “losing his legs.”

Many college officials practice this philosophy as well. I personally see no reason why it can’t be used as your decision criteria in high school. Suppose two opponents are facing off at the line of scrimmage. The offensive player grabs a handful of jersey inside. The two continue to face off as the runner passes by them. The NFL calls this a “dance” and will most likely not flag it. But, if the defender in this scenario makes a move toward the runner and a real restriction to his movement is obvious, you’ll undoubtedly see a flag.

Unrelated to holding, if you want to see a model umpire hustle all over the field, numbers to numbers, to keep bad things from happening, watch Mr. Quirk (Mike S…just FYI, Quirk was the U in this past season’s Pro Bowl in Honolulu.)

Another tip for new umpires: When a low trajectory pass is thrown beyond the neutral zone, forget about the line and spin quickly toward the pass to be ready to help on a low catch/no-catch call where the covering official might be screened from the play. This usually happens in a 5-man game when a WR takes the wing man downfield and a low pass is thrown underneath to a TE or back either in the flats or coming short across the middle. The key to determining your role in helping is the wing man. If he needs help, he should be running toward the spot looking directly at you with a “deer in the headlights” look. But don’t help unless you’ve spun early enough to see the whole play—the approach of the ball and the catch/no-catch. If you have a catch run toward the spot giving no signal whatsoever; if you have no-catch, move toward the spot quickly emphatically signaling incomplete. You must sell that call!