Quote:
Originally posted by mcrowder
No, I wouldn't. To take the point to the extreme...
It's legal for them to attempt a forward pass on a play. We should assume that they know that their options on a play that follows a penalty are the same. You would not remind them after a penalty that they have all the same options that they had before the penalty ... so why the exception here. Just because it doesn't come up often?
I think that any time you step outside your bounds to "help" a coach, you run a risk of unfairness. What happens when the OTHER coach finds out you've in essence suggested something to the first coach that helps the first coach score? Even worse, what happens if exactly this scenario happened to his team in previous weeks, but that official didn't remind them of an obscure rule?
It's not our job to help out a coach or a team (I'll admit an exception to this at lower levels, of course) - and once we do so, we begin directly affecting the game instead of officiating it --- a line we should not cross.
To me, reminding a coach in this sitch that he can FK is as bad as saying, as the clock winds down, "Coach, you have 1 timeout left", before he asks.
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Ok, but what would you do in this senario. 3rd-4 for A and they have intentional grounding 10 yards behind the LOS. Before you can explain to the captain that it is a spot foul, and a LOD, the coach is hollaring at his captain to "decline" the penalty cuz we want 4th down. Are you not going to tell the captain, "let me explain your options" and make sure he understands it will still be 4th down and they will be back 10 more yards? I am a referee, and most I know agree that if they do not "understand" the situation, make sure they do so they have a fair chance to make a decision. That is good game management by the referee.
Your forward pass statement is not on the same "level" at all as this. In response to your second statement, just because the previous crew did or did not do something is not going to influence my decision. If that was the case I would have allowed a team to have a number 32 on his line, therefor not having 5 players on the line with numbers 50-79 cuz "the officials said we could do it the last 3 weeks.