Touchdown Signals

[With_Two_Flakes]

Originally Posted by Jim D.

Another tip is to move the goal line sign (the orange pyramid marker) back farther away as you check the field before the game. They often put them too close to the pylon and you can trip over them as you're trying to get a good postion for a play at the pylon. Make sure you have plenty of room to work - you're not going to look too sharp if, as you're backing into position you tumble over one of those and end up making the call while seated.

Absolutely! I make sure the 10...10 markers are a min of 12 feet back, we don't often have the 12 ft limit lines marked on our fields here in the UK. I'll have the G markers even further back. Any stats people, photographers etc, I'll be sure to brief them to stay outside the pyramids, especially at the GL.

As for the tough GL call, I feel it is all about proper communication, particularly eye contact.
The 1st eye contact is wing to wing. A wing can have one of three things -
(1) a TD
(2) a spot short of the GL that he is selling
(3) he has nothing and so is wearing what I call the Forrest Gump expression and should be jogging in toward the pile (on the field side of the GL as mentioned earlier).

The next eye contact is Umpire to wings.
If the Umpire sees (1) or (2), he has nothing to do. If he sees both wings with a Forrest face, that triggers him into action. If he saw the ball over the line, he communicates to the wings (some favour a subtle signal, some do it verbally - whatever you favour in your association). If he has no clue if the ball was over the line, then his action is to start digging!

The final one is Referee to Umpire. If the Refereee sees the Umpire start digging in the pile, that triggers him to get close enough to the pile so that he can help unpile 'em and the Umpire can tell him the result of the play. The last thing you want is an Umpire on his knees giving a TD signal, the Referee can give that on his behalf.

[Reffing Rev.]

I've been trying to find the photo but it is lost.

2006 season, District game, home team needs a win to secure a spot in the state tourney, visiting team is 95% guaranteed at least a wild card on points. I was filling in as LJ on home team sideline with a crew I had never worked with before. Me and HL and BJ were all spot on, our U and R were from Mars I think.

Anyway Great game. Tie game - 7 to play in 4th quarter 3rd and goal inside the 5 for home team. FB dive over right guard. FB ends up 3 yards deep in the end zone. Both HL and I are crashing in with the spot...knee down ball clearly at the 1. U AND R are signalling TD.

So we put the ball 4th and goal at the 1 they kick the FG and on the insuing kickoff give up a TD return and loose the game.

This was a town not far from my work, so I was in the gas station Monday and picked up a newspaper: Front Page photo shows the FB standing in the end zone with the ball and the U and R signalling touchdown and on the very edge you can see me mid-stride at the 1 right hand in the air, left hand pointing at the ground. Caption reads something like: "Although the officials signalled touchdown they shorted 'Bob Smith' on his touchdown run, Eagles settled for FG and ended up loosing, thus being denied their state playoff bid"

I now tell my U that if he has both hands in the air, I'm cutting one of them off.

[parepat]

This video was discussed previously but i think it is relevent to this discussion. I'll give you some background later on. Where did this crew go wrong?



YouTube - Mathews vs. Reserve 2pt. controversy

[SNG10]

Where is the 5th official ? If he's there, I'm not seeing him at all during the play. Assuming this is Vienna Mathews, it should be a 5 man crew.

Also, #3 sure looks like he's not on the los.

[Mike L]

To begin with, it's hard to believe with the way the o-line moved the d-line back they couldn't see the runner get the ball in.
Where's the HL? I never see him come in to the picture. It's his and the LJ's call.
The LJ looks kinda lost, but he does hold his spot.
The U comes into the discussion and you would think he could have given some sort of help info if he had been looking at the POA. Instead he seems intent on mirroring the spot the LJ is holding and then discussing something with the LJ.
Why the BJ came in so close I have no idea. If he had stayed back at the endline where he belongs, he might have seen 21 get up off the pile and stand in the EZ holding the ball up. With that help they could've at least gone with the "we don't have him clearly down but we do have him somehow in the EZ with the ball so it has to be in" call.
The R is just kinda there and doesn't seem to want to join in on the discussion with the U and the LJ. Instead he just waits for the U to come out and give him something to signal. How about instead trying to get some resolution that at least makes it look like the crew knows what it's doing?
Both coaches spotted down around the party, all things considered, a minor problem.

[parepat]

Some background.

This was a 2 point try play for the home team in which the visitors held a 1 point advantage. The L never came into frame. He was not holding a spot or otherwise participating in the aftermath. The LJ later told me that he did not have a spot and that when you see him leaning in, he is telling the Umpire that "I didn't see it". Why he is hold a "phantom spot" was a mystery to him. The backjudge never says a word throughout the fiasco. He did not tell any of his fellow officials that the ball ended up in the endzone. In fact during the video the BJ is actually in front of the ball carrier when he gets up. As far as the referee, he told me that as time went on he felt he had to make a call. In my opinion, this video is a perfect example of how not to deal with a chaotic situation. All could have been avoided if the officials got together and sorted out this mess.

[HardHat Ref]

I agree with everything Mike said. This crew went wrong somewhere else too. If this is a try why is the clock running, and how did time run out on an untimed down?

[Brett]

Originally Posted by parepat

Some background.

This was a 2 point try play for the home team in which the visitors held a 1 point advantage. The L never came into frame. He was not holding a spot or otherwise participating in the aftermath. The LJ later told me that he did not have a spot and that when you see him leaning in, he is telling the Umpire that "I didn't see it". Why he is hold a "phantom spot" was a mystery to him. The backjudge never says a word throughout the fiasco. He did not tell any of his fellow officials that the ball ended up in the endzone. In fact during the video the BJ is actually in front of the ball carrier when he gets up. As far as the referee, he told me that as time went on he felt he had to make a call. In my opinion, this video is a perfect example of how not to deal with a chaotic situation. All could have been avoided if the officials got together and sorted out this mess.

That was a cluster@#%$...

Where is the R? He needs to be in there getting HIS crew together and asking pertinent, relevant questions to each of crew members so they can come to some sort of consensus and sell a call. He left them hung out to dry by standing in the backfield twiddling his thumbs while they all looked at each other.

The LJ had nothing else to do but hold the spot he had until his partners came in and saved his behind. He didn't see it and was at the mercy of his partners and not a single one came in to help him out (one way or the other). If I were him I'd never take the field with this crew again.