[deecee]

I think the concept of a patient whistle is more to gather more information and try and determine what is actually going on and/or was going to occur. Officials that blow the whistle very quickly also tend to get tunnel vision into going into the routine.

foul...report...move on - and fail to make the correct call. However if you see a foul and instead of putting air in the whistle right away hold off for a half second or so you may end up passing on the call or assigning the a different punishment than what you would have had you blown early.

We see fouls all game and don't call them, which is what "passing" on a call means. It means I saw the contact but didn't deem it necessary to call a foul. Most noticeable example. Rebounder gets bumped from behind but has the rebound clearly - pass. The same bump causes a travel or turnover - foul. Same contact, different outcomes, different action by the official.