This is one of those rules that can't be written precisely enough to cover all cases and therefore must be administered according to the reason the rule was put in place. There's a difference between a wide receiver rolling his hands and a guard bobbing his butt. The latter, although it might not be a deliberate tactic, would tend to either deceive defensive linemen into thinking the ball was being put in play (false start) or give an advantage in getting off the line at the snap (illegal motion). The former, though obviously deliberate, does nothing that the rules against false starts and illegal motion were put in place to prevent. And the fact that it's not an obvious part of the game or "natural football move", if anything, argues for its being legal rather than illegal. A player's pulling out a piece of gum and chewing it is not common to the game (particularly with a mouthpiece in), and therefore there's no reason to outlaw it; it certainly doesn't give an unfair advantage to the player or his team.
|