Quote:
Originally Posted by JRutledge
Just so you know, it has to be deliberate action to make that call, not confusion.
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Where the umpire failed, in my opinion, was when R was signalling him that the play was over and the QB was down - and the umpire, knowing the game situation, needed to come up, tell the player to get off the ball, and then either spot the ball or flag the kid for staying on the ball. Instead, he was entertaining a conversation with another defensive lineman.
You're absolutely right that he could not call DOG given what actually happened. But it was imperative on him to get up there and tell the other guy to get off the ball. If the kid then gets off the ball, he needs to spot it and get out of the way. If he doesn't after being instructed to do so - we have DOG (it then becomes deliberate, and not confusion).
He then further compounds his error by telling the snapper to stay off the ball, with no apparent reason for doing so since there was no substitution.