Indy/SD

[rulesmaven]

Not my game, so I have a question.

I'm not so sure that one of the wings whistled because he thought he saw the ball hit the ground.

When the BJ threw the bag, he was also sort of moving out of the way of the play and his non-bag arm raised, possibly looking like the mechanic for incomplete pass. I was wondering if perhaps the official who tweeted on the play was responding to what he thought was the no catch mechanic rather than his actual observation of the event.

Does it happen that way in football? If you're an official that does not have the primary call, but you see your partners' mechanic, do you blow the whistle (e.g., to avoid injury or further playing). It might happen for example on a fumble/no fumble call -- might a sideline official who clearly sees his partner U signal that the ball was on the ground blow the whistle when the lineman starts rumbling down the field with the ball even if he didn't see when the ball came loose?

[Bob M.]

Originally Posted by rulesmaven

...If you're an official that does not have the primary call, but you see your partners' mechanic, do you blow the whistle (e.g., to avoid injury or further playing).

REPLY: You shouldn't. If the primary official has the call and uses some sort of mechanic to indicate he knows what's going on, leave the whistle to him. If he doesn't blow it, play continues. No reason to try to trump your partner on the whistle in this case.

Other topic...though bagging the spot of an interception has absolutely no rule-based purpose in either Fed or NCAA, I do recall hearing that there is a possibility of that spot being significant in the NFL. I'll research and report back.