Random Sunday thoughts

[PSU213]

Okay, there are some things I noticed watching the NFL on Sunday.

First, the annoucers on the PGH/CIN game really had no clue (a big shock, I know):

There was an intentional grounding call, and one of them said "that was a really late flag." Uhh, yeah, usually IG flags don't come out 0.3 seconds after the play ends. It was pretty obvious that the R (Nemmers) was seeing if there was an eligible receiver in the area. The play-by-play guy then said "wasn't Rudy Johnson close enough?" The color guy said, "well, he probably was, but the bad news is the ball didn't get past the line of scrimmage." Meanwhile the QB took about 5 steps straight back from the center.

There was a late hit call. It was very obvious, but the color guy felt he had to say "if there wasn't a whistle he couldn't hear it." Like...no kidding. And then I knew what was coming next..."and the coaches always say, 'play to the whistle.'"

Then there was a block in the back. The play-by-play guy said "that flag came down after the play ended, after he had gone down field," as if the officials threw the flag to take away the punt return gain.

In addition to dealing with clueless announcer, other things that should be on the NFL's agenda:

1. No more having "non-white hat" officials signaling penalties before or while reporting it to the "head" (as announcers like to say) referee. Many people don't realize that the person in the white hat has the official signal, and I saw several cases today where signals given by other officials to the R were confusing. I have heard that having the other officials signal as the go up to the R is to save time, but they just end up talking to the referee anyway, so I don't see what time it saves.

2. Crack down on receivers signaling that they want a flag before the pass even hits the ground. I can't imagine that the NFL hires officials who are influenced by this (I hope the aren't anyway), and it is getting really annoying as a viewer.

OK, I had to get that off my chest. Sorry it was so long.

[Mike Simonds]

I agree that its not good for the calling official to "pre-signal" the referee as they are running in to report their foul. (But at the professional level I'm sure that they do this for the obvious infractions in order to save time and move the game along.)

Especially at the high school level where one official might have encroachment by the defense that causes an offensive lineman to come-up from his stance. Perhaps one official did not see the defensive encroachment first.

So I agree its much better to have a brief discussion and then let the referee make the signal.