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There are very few instances where the spot of a fumble behind the LOS needs to be known. I started out officiating with bagging everything. Then I learned about the spot of fumbles behind the LOS and how seldom they are important to know their location and stopped bagging them. But now I am back on the side of bagging everything.
By bagging the fumble you are acknowledging the fact that something happened that may not have been seen from either sideline. This bag flying in will show your wings that something has happened and may stop that over-zealous wing from blowing the play dead just because he though the play had to be over (come on Larry, it's not even in your zone). So even though the spot is usually unimportant the act of throwing the bag does have importance. It also helps if R doesn't have to think about if he should throw it or not just because of where it happened.
Illegal forward pass is R's call. Official's manual says U may assist R in this call and either can throw the flag. U will probably even have the best spot. R may be 10 yards behind the QB and can't tell for sure. Even if R is the only one to throw the flag he should always talk to U about what happened and confirm the spot.
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