[Kelvin green]

Originally Posted by stripes

In my pregame, I ALWAYS have the trail make the call on ALL OOB above the FTLE. It would be very rare that the lead will be looking anywhere near the area where the ball is and the trail will be on ball for the play and should be looking right at the OOB call. BITS referred to the "deer in the headlights" look that partners give each other at times (one of the things I hate) and, on this call, it can be avoided by having the official who is on ball make the call.

This is standard practice in my area and required a lot of concentration to break when I moved and refereed in another state fo a couple of years. I actually had one game where I was lead, the ball went OOB above the FTLE on my line, I was busy working my area and had no idea it went out, the ball was bounding OOB with my partner staring at it, and my partenr sat there watching the ball waiting for me to blow my whistle. Once the players stopped playing, I looked at my partner (who was still looking at the ball) and finally blew my whistle for the OOB. I had to ask for help, which my partner gave and we went on (looking like two morons IMO). At the end of the quarter, I asked my partner why he didn't blow his whistle and all he could say is that "it was your line" and I was waiting for you. I agreed that it was my line, but asked if we would have performed any better as a crew if he had blown the line and we continued to play without the awkward silence. IMO, he was so concerned about calling the lines as outlined that he helped us to lose credibility by staring at the ball and then signalling only after I asked for help. It was obvious that I didn't see the play and he looked like he didn't know what to do until I asked for help.

Just my opinion.

Very well said!.