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Illegal forward pass can be a tough call, and you hate to step on the feet of other crew members.
The only time I've flagged IFP so far was as a line judge (4-man) in one of my first games. I had started to drop back to cover the pass, but the QB scrambled out of the pocket almost immediately and headed upfield on my side. When he got close to the line of scrimmage, I assumed this was becoming a running play and headed back towards the QB to cover it. Thus, I had a great view of the QB throwing a forward pass two yards past the LOS, and threw the flag. The bad news was I was way out of position for covering the receivers, 40 yards downfield from me on my sideline.
Luckily for me, the pass was incomplete. The referee thanked me for the flag, since he had trouble seeing where the QB passed from; he's just not positioned in the best vantage point to rule on that. But he also told me I should have been in position to cover the receivers downfield. That's why it's so tough to call; nobody's in a great position to see it if they're where they're supposed to be.
Is it normally the U's responsibility to help out in this situation?
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