Shifts

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by newref1

Thanks. That makes sense. Now all I have to is figure out why this is that important. I find it hard to believe that whether the back does or doesn't wait until the linemen are set before going in motion somehow affects the defense. Maybe it just looks confusing to them. But thanks.

There must've been some importance to it, or they wouldn't've deleted from the definition of "shift" that it be "by a motion of both feet". Fed & NCAA apparently both did that some time after I was paying att'n, don't know exactly when.

In the 1980s it was common for the line to reset to 3- or 4-pt. with an up-and-down motion motion while a back was in motion and continued to be in motion at the snap. I as a spectator remarked to someone that that was illegal motion, and he agreed, but when I checked the rule I saw I was wrong (or just ahead of my time). The motion of resetting without moving the feet wasn't considered part of a shift. And the requirement that it be a motion of both feet allowed the QB to give a motion signal by raising & lowering one foot.

But obviously the rules makers must'v'e agreed with my sentiment, because they changed it to make the resetting into 3-pt. a shift, by removing reference to the feet. AIUI from reading here, the lift-a-foot signal isn't considered a change in position if the foot comes down in the same place.

Robert