Spotting out of bounds punts

[laymonr]

I have observed officials spotting out of bounds punts by walking up the sideline while looking toward the previous line of scrimmage and then coming to a stop at some point where the new line of scrimmage will be. They don't appear to note where the ball hits the ground out of bounds. I don't believe this is an accurate method as it is difficult to obtain a good perspective. I believe a more accurate method would be to have an official throw a flag or hat at the place where the punter makes contact. The spotting official would then go to the spot where the ball lands out of bounds, then start walking straight for the dropped flag or hat. When he reaches the sideline, he would then have an accurate new line of scrimmage.

Just a thought. Perhaps officials are using a different method than it appears on TV.

[AndrewMcCarthy]

The sideline official is looking into the referee who was in the vicinity of the punter when the kick was made. He gives the wing official a chop signal when he's at the spot that aligns with the landing spot out of bounds beyond the sideline.

It's a pretty good mechanic unless the referee was preoccupied with action near/around the kick and never saw it land. To be absolutely accurate, I suppose the referee should stand at the spot where the kick was made.

This mechanic isn't used if the ball rolls/bounces out of bounds.

Your proposed mechanic wouldn't work that well if the ball landed, say, beyond the bench or in the stands.

[JugglingReferee]

Up here in Canada, the Referee does move to the spot of kick. Why wouldn't you???

If you know anything about math, you know that this method is very accurate. I would bet within half a yard.

[JasonTX]

Originally posted by laymonr
. They don't appear to note where the ball hits the ground out of bounds.

The ball is spotted where it crosses the sidelines, not where it lands out of bounds. What we do is similar as what what you suggested. Instead of dropping a hat where the kick was made, the Ref goes to where the kick was made and faces at the same angle the kick travels. The official on the sideline will then walk up the sideline and when he gets to the line in which the Ref has his angle on that's where the ball went out of bounds. As was pointed out they communicate by putting their hand in the air and the the Ref will drop his hand when the other official gets to the spot.

[ChickenOfNC]

Jason, you're exactly right.

However, I see what the guy is saying. If you have something at the spot the ball lands OOB, and something at the spot the ball was kicked, if you draw a line between the two, you would know just about exactly where the ball crossed the sideline. I realize this is not very practical, but I can see where he's coming from with it.

I think our current mechanic works pretty good.

[Warrenkicker]

The technique of walking down the sideline is essentially the same as a wing official going to the spot where the ball hit the ground and walking back toward the spot of the kick. But that is slower and the wing might get lost or beaten up out there.

The R stays back at the spot of the kick and establishes that line, the path the ball took after bing kicked. So now he has one line which extends from the spot of the kick to some point out-of-bounds. The wing official then comes along his line, the sideline. Where the two line cross is a point, the out-of-bounds spot. This gets the same result and since the ball still has yet to commit a foul all of the officials who were in the area of the field where the fouls could be committed would be watching the players and not where the ball landed.

[The Roamin' Umpire]

Also, and this is admittedly a minor point, if there's a strong wind, so that the ball does not travel in a straight line, using the point where the ball hits would actually magnify any error as compared with sighting along the path the ball traveled.

[laymonr]

I now understand what the current mechanics are and they make sense. What everyone seems to be doing would work essentially the same as my suggestion. I wasn't aware that the sideline official was being guided by the referee who has established the line of the punt. I thought the sideline official was doing it on his own somehow, which isn't the case.

[Sonofanump]

If your a quick enough line judge (NF), you can actually get under the punt and spot it yourself. I perefer doing this then having the referee spot it.

[Warrenkicker]

Originally posted by Sonofanump
If your a quick enough line judge (NF), you can actually get under the punt and spot it yourself. I perefer doing this then having the referee spot it.

While you can get an accurate spot, most if not all league commissioners or anybody reviewing you will have a comment about that technique.

My R has only been doing R for a few years and lining himself up on a scrimmage kick that goes out-of-bounds is about the only thing he hasn't figured out yet. So us wings are left to get this spot on our own. Luckily all of the kicks OOB have been to my side as I am LJ and I am already down field some distance when the ball goes over my head. I move out on to the field some and actually follow the ball along it's flight to the sideline actually almost like laymonr was suggesting. This technique works pretty well but only if the covering official is already down field some distance and can actually see the ball go overhead. Well at one game where I had to do this twice the biggest league commissioner was there to watch his grandson, saw this and informed us of our error. Now we still do the same technique but the R also stands back where the ball was kicked and when we give him a signal, he chops us and we stop at our spot. We still get to the same place but it looks normal. The first time we did that in a game both R and myself had a big smile for each other. Up until this season I would normally see one punt go OOB on the fly. Through the first five games this season we had seven on my sideline and none on the other side plus probably 4 more to my side which bounced out while only one to the other side.

[JasonTX]

I once heard of another technique when you just don't have a clue where it went out. Start deep and start walking up the sideline. When the fans from one team start booing and the other fans start cheering stop at that spot. I do not endorse this method and the clinician who suggested this was joking.

[Sonofanump]

Warren-Sounds like we are the same boat with our WH. I think that I am going to use you technique and have the WH chop me when I stop, I know where the spot is, he does not.

[Warrenkicker]

It's not the best way to do things but it looks right and that is what people in the stands and the coach are used to seeing so if you do that then they will be less likely to yell about it. Just come up with some signal that you can give R to tell him you are ready for him to chop you. You still stop at your spot but because he chopped you before you stopped it looks like he told you where that was. If you stop first then it might look funny.

[wisref2]

The chop-in mechanic is pretty standard. Another little trick to use it to watch the stat guy. Many of them follow the punt and then stand where it went out so they can record their info. In my experience, they're usually pretty accurate. So if you're not exaclty sure, look for the stat guy.

[Patton]

Originally posted by wisref2
So if you're not exaclty sure, look for the stat guy.

I'm sorry, but this sounds crazy to me. There's no way I'm going to use the "stat guy" for the inbounds spot. If the WH can't help, then you just have to make an educated guess at it and you'll be close. I can't believe you'd think the "stat guy" would have a better look at this than you.