When officially is the ball ready for play?

[SC Ump]

Originally Posted by cos_man99
So the question is when is the ball ready for play? The instant the whistle starts blowing?

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee
... then of course A can snap as the whistle is sounding. It's not right to force them to wait for the whistle to stop sounding...

Originally Posted by OverAndBack
...does it stand to reason that the RFP whistle signals that the ball has become "ready for play"?

I don't know if my brain is hurting because I'm in Mensa or in spite of that fact.

[Ed Hickland]

Without saying whether you were right or wrong, consider with 4.5 seconds the offense wants to use every one-hundredth of a second. Maybe, just maybe, rather than using a snap count, it could be they go on the whistle itself.

The RFP is a signal that the ball is ready. My personal preference is to blow a long ready whistle if I think my crew needs that extra tick to be in position which makes it harder for the QB to call out signals. In this situation the offense is ready and the sound of the whistle indicates they can snap.

[OverAndBack]

Originally Posted by SC Ump

I don't know if my brain is hurting because I'm in Mensa or in spite of that fact.

Hey, we get esoteric here. It's a long season.

[kdf5]

If you have to think about it, it wasn't a foul.