Sideline Warning (under 2 minutes)

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I think many of you are making a stretch out of this rule. The rule IMO was not designed for an SLW as the penalty for that is only a warning and no yardage. It has no other consequence and never did. It was not like an illegal forward pass or a false start. I would not give that option at all in this situation unless I had direct guidance to do so. And I have not been given any such guidance. Peace

I'm certainly not suggesting giving the offended team an option to start the clock on the snap is a crushing penalty, but when there is NO consequence to an inappropriate behavior - what's the point in calling attention to it?

Can't suggest this applies to every situation, but a really good percentage of the time, the 1st Official warning, involving a flag, stopping the clock and and publicly gesturing (signalling) is FAR from being the first request for cooperation ANY sideline is being asked for.

Keeping the restricted area clear is a sound idea, that EVERYBODY should understand, agree with and cooperate with. I would hope most coaches do exactly that, simply because it makes perfect sense. Some don't, often simply because they won't, and the more warnings, pleas, explanations we try have no effect BECAUSE there is no negative impact.

Perhaps a better solution would be to leave it up to the game officials to decide how many requests for cooperation are necessary, and to decide when that approach is not working and a line is crossed deserving a penalty. A real penalty, to jog the memory of why you learned to listen to your father before he slapped you. Why not start with 15 yards, that would undoubtedly gain EVERYONE'S attention, and serve to more effectively eliminate people wandering into the restricted area, which is the overall OBJECTIVE.