Goal line -- not seeing the ball

[bluezebra]

If you don't see the ball, don't make the call.

Bob

[simpson]

If you crash, you can usually tell by how the player is laying whether he has advanced the ball. If the ball is still tucked away and is a foot beyond the endzone, you got a TD. If you never saw the kid stretch the ball in front of him on his feet and when you crash you find him with the ball stretched just barely breaking the plane, it's probably short.

As for pinching in before the play, what do you do if the play doesn't go up the middle? What if it comes to your sideline? What if you have a pylon play? Do you want to be officiating while backing up? Worse yet, do you want to have the play go behind you? The NFL mechanic is a good mechanic - start wide and crash once you KNOW the ball went up the middle.

[Rick KY]

As the umpire on our crew I us a thumbs up signal when I have the ball in the EZ. Holding teh fist to my shest is not always visible to wings, so I extend my arm out in front of me. Our wings know that I have the ball in the EZ, but that does not mean TD, so they still must use their own judgement.