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Why does Fed even bother to give a mechanic for something like this? Why not a general instruction to "present the facts in order of their occurrence and resolution", and let the official apply common sense? That is, recap in order. (They even do that in Rugby Union.)
If the first down is awarded last, it should be signaled last. If the first down is awarded and then penalty yardage applied after the line-to-gain is established, that's the order they should be signaled. A dead ball signal should be given in the order of occurrence of the dead ball, or first if the ball remained dead since the last administrative action.
Can anyone describe a situation in which this common sense rule would give ambiguous results, or in which a specified mechanic would make things clearer than this general procedure?
Robert
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