This past Friday I got my first chance to use a microphone. In Kansas there are very few teams who splurge on a piece of equipment like this. Some teams can hardly afford footballs. I had always wanted to use one as I could explain what happened much better than the announcer trying to interpriet signals that can mean 20 different things. I loved having it. There were two main situations where I thought it came in extremely useful.

I called roughing the passer. The contact was not late and was not long or involved throwing the QB to the ground way after the pass. The DE came in high and hit the QB in the head with an arm. I was able to explain why I had roughing because of the blow to the head.

The second was an unusual situation where there was a fumble where only BJ saw it. Everybody except BJ and the kid with the ball thought it was going to be second down. Then BJ said he had B with the ball. The clock hadn't stopped at the end of the play (a different issue, not clock operator fault). I was able to explain that it was B's ball and that the clock should be reset.

I know that some WHs might not feel comfortable enough with their public speaking abilities to use these but I think a mic on the WH is extremely useful. I wish I could get my hands on one each week.

In high school rules, there is nothing about a blow to the head being roughing the passer. You might have had a personal foul, but its not roughing the passer unless the hit is late or prolonged.

I see your point but in my case there was no difference in whether it was called roughing or personal foul. The line to gain was 10 yards and the pass was incomplete. We got to the same spot with the same result.

That may be true, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad philosophy, or one that we shouldn't use. There's nothing in the rule or case books that specifically addresses helmet to helmet contact either but there are interpretations that it should be called. I don't see any difference with a blow to the head. The rule does state, "No defensive player shall charge into the passer who is standing still or fading back, because he is considered out of the play after the pass."

I don't have a problem with roughing on this play. The rule isnn't meant to address every possiblity.