Overrule?

[Blue37]

Originally posted by JRutledge

First of all, you cannot overrule anyone if no decision has been made. Both officials made a signal, but you cannot have both. Someone was not supposed to signal at all. So this is not an "overrule" when someone had a brain fart and did something they were not suppose to.

I have had this happen as a Referee. You use common sense than talk to both officials. Usually you stick with the official's call that had the ball come to their side. If someone is blocked off you might give the call to the other side. The bottom line is that there is no good that can come out of conflicting signals. If anything, try to prevent it. The wings should pinch if they are not sure, and then rule a TD after the play is dead if necessary. The wings should also look at each other if there is any question as to if he got across.

Peace

The play was a QB sneak right up the gut. Does the call belong to the L or the LJ? In my scenario, both were certain of what they saw. Logic tell us that one of them saw it incorrectly, but neither were willing to back down and change their own call.

Maybe my confusion is that I do not understand the definition of "decision" and "overrule". Until your post, I thought the L made a decision when he signaled TD, and I thought the LJ made a decision when he signaled no TD. If, as you assert, the decision is not made until the call is final, then there is never an overrule. If a flag is thrown for a clip, but the Referee, with no discussion, tells the official to put his flag back in his pocket and the game goes on without a penalty being assessed, that is not an "overrule" as it occurred before the final "decision" was made. If we had all been working from these definitions, the discussion whould have ended long ago.