We just had a substitute who used this signal. Our back judge liked it. How about this situation.

Long run. BJ has him in. LJ has him out but whistle slips out of his hand and there is a short delay in blowing it. In the meantime, the BJ goes up. Now you have a mess.

This signal is no different than the thumbs up or the nod or whatever. It allows the BJ to signal more quickly and eliminates the bad result that I described. I'm okay with it.

Yes we signal. Yes I make eye contact with my wings. Yes I wait for some indication from them before I go up with a TD. I have gone up with a TD while assuming I had a TD, only to have my partner signal the player out at the 2 yard line. If it is a TD now, it is a TD 10 seconds from now. If you go up with a TD, it is going to be hard to take it back without some explaining to do. For all I know my partner might have been knocked down or is a little slow and I want some confirmation so I do not make a quick TD call.

Peace

Did the LJ stop and mark the spot?

I've had trouble finding the whistle, too, sometimes. But I'd stop and get the spot and kill the clock and make the whistle the tertiary thing. And if the BJ saw me do that, I'd hope he'd wonder why.

Granted, this all happens at speed and with varying levels of experience on a crew, so it may not be realistic. In any case, like Rut says, a few seconds ain't a deal-breaker if it means the difference between looking cohesive and looking scattered.

I just
 

make eye contact with my BJ and nod if he is in, otherwise I am signaling the OB spot.