"No man's land"
 

Just curious, do any of you guys ever penalize A for illegal formation, for the so called "no man's land" (player neither lined up as a back or on the line)? I've never called it or seen it called. Our higher ups are of the opinion that you're either on the line or you're a back, nothing in between.

Preventive officiating. If you see this, tell the coach and this will usually be solved.

I agree, he is either on the line of off. Communicating with the coach usually fixes the issue.

This normally happens to the player who's split wide and the player isn't trying to get an advantage or fool anyone, he's just a little off in his alignment. I'll try and work with the kid or the coach to get it straightened out. I can't remember ever flagging it.

Most times when you're on the wing looking down the line of scrimmage at the offensive line's formation, it's not quite as sharp as it is in the book.

On a similar note, has anyone flagged A for illegal formation when the tackles do not break the waist of the snapper? Some teams get a real deep V going with their interior linemen when prepping for the pass rush, and sometimes the tackles can get kind of deep.

I would work with the kid and try to get him up on the line, if that doesn't work I would and have flagged it because they are trying to gain an unfair, advantage. I have seen this more and more on punts with the ends trying for form a V to protect against the outside rush.

This is probably one I would still try to talk to them, but I could see flagging this one more quickly than the other. There is advantage gained by doing this, usually to neutralize a good pass rushing defensive end.

I believe I remember my crew flagging this once - but it was unusual and WAS intended to deceive. Legally numbered back comes up before linemen are set and taps one of them, who moves over. Back then lines up right next to the QB, in no-man's land, and accepts a diagonal direct snap.

But in everyday play, no... this is one you correct verbally and don't flag.

I was watching an NFL training video a couple of nights ago on a play like this, the supervisor said "put a blade of grass between them." He said he did NOT want "those type of picky calls made." Take it how you want it but on my crew we talk to the player about his alignment one, maybe two times before he would get a flag.

I had this two years ago. The coach wanted to make a deep pocket and decided the rules meant that the lineman was on the line if 'any part' of the lineman in line with the butt of the center. So he had his tackle in a 2 point stance with their hands streached out forward. (And of course they didn't always hold there arms up even... so they were often completely back even if the coach was correct).

I spent the complete first half telling him to correct it, and he kept the arguement that it was ok, so in the second half I flagged it a few times to get it corrected. After the game he demanded to see the rule, and when we showed it to him he just turned and walked away - of course without appologizing for flipping out about the flags.

James

In this case, yes I would without a warning. Due to his proximity to the center, he has no excuse. Moreover, there is a clear advantage being gained in this situation.

I tell my crew: There are 3 ways to handle a situation, "No-Call", "Foul", or "Talk to them so it doesn't happen again." Preventive officiating, especially when it has no effect on the current play.