OK, so I've read where the WH shouldn't be blowing a whistle, he should leave that up to the wings. I've read in the Officials Manual that the U shouldn't be blowing a whistle and I've been told in our association that the wings only blow the whistle when it is on their side of the hash marks, so who blows the whistle for a play between the hash marks?

As R, I'm not blowing the whistle unless my QB that's already grasped by defenders is about to get slammed to the ground. Whistle drops after snap unless its a clear kneel down situation.

That's stunning. When I R, I spit out the whistle at the snap. If I average blowing my whistle twice at the end of a play during games, I'd be shocked. QB tackled in the backfield is usually about the only time I'm reaching for a whistle, and most of those times, my umpire beats me to it.

What I hate is when I (at HL) or my partner at LJ blow a play dead, and then we hear 3 other whistles. It's just not necessary. I hate it worse from R, when I hear LJ blow it dead, and then hear it again from BJ or HL - makes me think they are bringing in a penalty or something. No need for the echo whistles unless you're trying to get someone's attention or stop something going on after the play.

Most plays should only have one whistle. That should come from the covering official who sees the ball dead in the possession of a player. If you are getting three or four whistles then you have officials who are not watching their responsibilities. Even if I am confident that the running back was tackled with the ball, if he is turned away from me at the end of the play, even if he is just a few feet in front of me, I am not just blowing it dead. If I can't see the ball then it isn't my decision. I may have the good spot but it is probably the other wing's whistle or no whistle at all. 95% of the time there should be one whistle and whomever blew the whistle had better also have the spot.

My crew got into the habit of using the dead ball signal this year, because we noticed players and coaches see the signal and will KNOW the play is dead. Last year, we didn't really use it, and had a lot of *****ing that we had IW's (even though it was clear they weren't!). We worked a game where all of the players were deaf (two state schools for the deaf going at it) and started using it that game, and lo and behold, we haven't stopped since!