Do We Have Anything Here?

[bossman72]

What if this was genuinely unintentional?

[The Roamin' Umpire]

Originally Posted by bossman72

What if this was genuinely unintentional?

Then I expect I might have a flag for either illegal shift or illegal motion, since the RB is not motionless at the snap.

I think you'll be able to read this from the reaction of the player attempting to call the timeout. If the snap goes off and he's really caught flatfooted, then I might judge this to be unintentional. If he starts moving immediately, I'm shutting it down and flagging it.

[BuckeyeRef]

We seem to be reading a lot into the intent of the players on plays like this. How do you know the RB did not know they had no timeouts? How do you know the RB did not think the formation was wrong or something else was wrong? As for motion, if the RB is not simulating a start and no other player is moving how is this false start or illegal shift? This very well could be a simple mistake that worked out in Team B's favor.

[bossman72]

Originally Posted by The Roamin' Umpire

Then I expect I might have a flag for either illegal shift or illegal motion, since the RB is not motionless at the snap.

I think you'll be able to read this from the reaction of the player attempting to call the timeout. If the snap goes off and he's really caught flatfooted, then I might judge this to be unintentional. If he starts moving immediately, I'm shutting it down and flagging it.

I see. Although i don't think you can have an illegal motion/shift since the motion seemed legal.