Expanded neutral zone

[MJT]

Originally posted by ljudge
The verbage makes sense here and I would have got this wrong on a test question, until now. My question is if an A player who is 4 stinking feet beyond the LOS and never hit a team B player, are you going to rag him for being illegally downfield? It's not like he really gained any kind of advantage especially if he's supposed to be behind the LOS blocking for his QB. If he touches a pass or some how draws coverage I agree it should (and has) to be flagged. So with that as a backdrop I ask are we going to be that strict if he really hasn't gained an advantage?

IMO you might use some good preventative officiating the first time you see it by saying something like "guys, a couple of you are pretty close to being illegally downfield." This notifies them, and you can easily bang them, with no complaining if it happens again. It is no different than telling the lineman to "keep their hands inside" or they are going to get a holding call against them.

Now if a lineman is 3 yards or more downfield, we've got a flag with no warning.