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This is something that I have a problem with. I tend to be more black and white on procedure calls. I believe that my current crew is not.
I have no problem on calls like PI and holding being considered under the "did it effect the play" criteria. I do have a problem with procedure calls not being called as black and white. I agree with another poster that made the point that these calls are to maintain the structure of the game. I'm not trying to call out my crew here (I know my white hat frequents this forum), but I'll use a specific instance from this year where this was an issue.
Team B is having serious problems during their punts of keeping 7 men on the line. After having my L on the other side convey a warning to the team B coach, the problem doesn't get any better. In fact it gets worse and team B is lossing by a larger and larger margin. The last punt that B made I kid you not, I only had 4 players legitimately on the line. It was made clear during a discussion at half time (when A was up by 21 or 28 points) that I was not going to throw a flag for the illegal formation.
Did this help team B, maybe it saved the punter from getting nailed, btu B still lost. I had resolved myself to allowing A to do the same thing if they ever had an opportunity to punt in the name of consistancy...but looking the other way just did not feel right. An arguement can be made that we were using good game management, but that still doesn't make it okay that we butchered the formation rules that govern the game.
So I don't know. I suppose that until the federation comes down and provides more clarity on how we should call games, we just need to do what we believe to be right as professionals. For me that is to be black and white on procedure calls and use good judgement on fouls that effect the outcome of the play.
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