Intentional Grounding Blunder
 

Made this mistake Friday. A is pressured and throws the ball away. After the action on the QB is resolved I look to my linesman for help. He shakes his head no. I take that to mean "no this is not IG" I start to head back and the BJ runs up to tell me that their was no eligible in the area. The Linesman agrees and I ............finally...........throw the flag...........about 25 seconds after the conclusion of the play. My popularity among A's coaches diminished dramatically.

Any thoughts as to how to avoid this problem. Do any of you guys have a signal to the R that would would indicate the lack of an eligible in the area.

We've always used Thumb Up, Thumb Down.

Thumb Up: I (flanker) have a receiver in the area...your call Mr. Referee.

Thumb Down: No receiver near me Mr. Referee. Looks like IG to me :)

Canadian Mechanic
 

CANADIAN MECHANIC:

We don't restrict the official permitted to throw an IG flag to the Referee.

Before you ask: yup, it works. ;)

Better late than never. Common with IG.

Your linesman should have come to you to tell you what he had instead of shaking his head. Your Backjudge gets an upgrade for making sure the correct call was made.

Our mechanic for wings--

If their is a receiver in the area, point to him. If there is no receiver in the area, rush to the referee (assuming there is no extracurricular activities that need to be watched).

Despite this we did get into a little trouble once. QB throws it away. HL says and shakes head "no" mening it was not IG. R took it to mean no receiver in the area. We then had to 'eat' the flag.

Pregame, pregame, pregame.

Did he throw the ball incomplete on purpose? Doesn't matter if there was a receiver in the area. Call it! Read Casebook 7-5-2 Sit C Even if there is a receiver in the area if the QB threw thew ball intentionally incomplete(uncatchable) to prevent a sack.

How do we know intent?

I am suddenly having dejavu from the NFHS forum!

Me too. :eek:

Seriously, just have to have your wings come to you if they have no one in the area and you drop a late flag. You should be at the location the pass so you know where to drop the flag.

It is called INTENTIONAL grounding, the rule says you are to judge intent!

verbal comunications can not or never will be replaced by singals in most circumstances.

That was another problem. After my wing shook his head I walked away. Realizing my mistake I made a best guess of the pass location. All in all it was a pretty avoidable mistake that we all learned from. Thanks for all the comments.

BJ, I want you to take a one year sobatical from coaching, become an R for varsity FB and see how many times you call it!! :eek: You would either slightly change your thinking, or call it more times in that year than the rest of us do in 5 years. ;)

I'm not saying there is no judgment on intent, but you seem to think it should be called at least once a game!! :)

What I am saying is if a receiver is in the area, then I am not going to say he intentionally threw the ball away.