Dead ball signal at end of play

[MJT]

I am posting this on all the boards to get everyone’s opinions.

I am seeing more and more of it this year. At the end of the play, the covering official will give the dead ball signal. Although it is not a standard signal at the end of a play, I have seen this in each of the 3-4 bowl games I have seen so far. I saw at least one crew working the Iowa state championship games using it, the crew working the NCAA D2 Championship game, and many crews I've seen working college games using it.

I personally like it, especially for the U to do on a play in between the hashes when he has the ball in possession of a player who is down. He can do so without blowing his whistle, and let the wings know they can blow theirs without waiting til they see the ball in the pile, without worrying about having in IW. Short plays in the middle of the field, which are ran up the middle, can be really tough for wings to see with all the guys in and around the ball. The U often can see the ball down several seconds before the wings.

My question is, how many of you use it for NF?