2nd Year Official

[Ed Hickland]

[quote=RichMSN]Those are coach words, and should be ignored. It doesn't mean we should have a quicker whistle. I want slow, slow whistles.

...[quote]

Or, no whistle.

As to the original question.

Never say never. As the U if you plainly see the ball and the runner is down, then, blow the whistle especially if you see players still moving and no whistle has sounded. I think it is best for the U to use a finger whistle in order to delay blowing it.

Second, a whistle does not kill the play, the play kills itself. Last season there was some criticism in an NFL game because the whistle was not blown. Mike Pereria, VP of Officiating, reminded the announcer a whistle does not have to be blown.

Lastly, some teams are just aggresive. I had one team in games the last two years there was a late hit in both games when the player was clearly down on the ground. This team is coached to go after the runner with the consequence being late hits as I flagged them.

Bottom line, if you felt it was a late hit, it was.