Illegal Motion vs False Start

[wisref2]

Sorry, but I just can't fathom why this is such as issue.

In your first play - lifting the hand is a false start by definition. An interior lineman can't lift his hand off the ground. If you want rule reference, look it up.

In your second play - it is a false start because getting up and rocking forward simulates action at the snap.

In the third play, your lineman is shifting at the time of the snap (going from two-point stance to three-point stance is a shift). Since he is shifting when the ball is snapped, it is an illegal shift. It is NOT a false start because it does not simulate action at the snap (as stated in the other thread, people get up at the snap, they don't go into a three-point stance when the ball is snapped).

To further support that argument, in plays one and two, it doesn't matter when the ball is snapped. The action itself is a foul. In the third one - the shift to a three-point stance is a legal shift. It becomes a foul ONLY if the ball is snapped less than one second after the legal shift. So the shift isn't what made the play illegal, it is the snap that made the shift illegal. Thusly, it is a foul similtanious with the snap - which makes it, by definition, a live ball foul.

Enough said? There - frustration vented. Now I have to get ready for my crew meeting, and believe me, this will not be a point of discussion.