Backward pass mechanics

[Ed Hickland]

Read the manual.

The Officials Manual states the referee rules on a pass forward or backward and the wings have to be ready to rule on the direction fo a quick QB pass.

[SJoldguy]

communication is needed on the short drop back and quick pass. I am a LJ and have been working with the same R for a least 15 years. On that quick pass to my side , I look at the ref and see one of 3 things. 1) he is blowing his whistle and giving incompete signal. 2) he is persuing the play looking at the ball as it rolls. 3) he is looking at me with the biggest eyes that you've ever seen. in 1 the play is over. IN 2 he has made his judgement that it is a backwards pass. In 3 he needs help so I make the call immediately and firmly whether or not I have a clue as to the situation. In that time we have managed to "sell the call" with very little complaint from coaches. Once I thought it was forward, deflected by a DE but my Ref was calling backward( by persuing the ball). I let it go because I wasn't sure of the initial direction of the pass. At halftime , i found out that he hadn't seen the deflection and we concluded that we had blown it. In retrospect, I should have gone to him after the play or given a tipped signal during the play. ( or both) At any rate we should have straightened it out

[Derock2004]

In my experiences, no official should make a call on a play exclusively because of their position. In general, the official closest to the play are in better position to make the call but this isn't always true because the angle of the play could provide a much better view to an official further away from the play. What has worked well for me is to check with the official closest to the play first. Then ask the other officials if they saw something different. Working together to make the right call is most important and no one has an exclusive area that restricts other officials from making a call from anywhere on the field. I'm not sure how this relates to the rules of mechanics but this is what works best for me and my crew.

[SoGARef]

DeRock,

You are telling me that you are going to let someone else call intentional grounding and roughing the kicker and roughing the passer?

[AndrewMcCarthy]

Oh boy.

Here we go again!

[Derock2004]

Originally posted by SoGARef
DeRock,

You are telling me that you are going to let someone else call intentional grounding and roughing the kicker and roughing the passer?

No, I am saying the official "closest" to the play (R) will be in the best position to make the call but that doesn't mean the R is the only one who can make that call. I could be standing right there in the best position to make the call but I will still have blind spots or angles that I won't be able to see. A good example would be a fumble that goes unnoticed to an official standing right there by the play but easily spotted by another official further away with a clear view angle. When they review plays in the NFL to make the right call, they don't only use the camera that is closest to the play but instead they search for the camera that has the best angle to clearly view the play. I follow the same concept on the field. If intentional grounding and roughing are my calls as the R, and for whatever reason I don't call it are you going to pretend you didn't see it just because by the rules of mechanics its not your area of responsibility? We are an officiating team. We all know the rules, we all can see, and we all have flags. I have been working with my crew for many years and we cover each other pretty well. I know my style of officiating may not be consistent with what many officials here would advise but I have been doing it this way for 10 years and it works great for me and my crew.