Spotting the ball, close to line-to-gain
 

(Assuming 4+ man mechanics)

What mechanics should be used when the ball is spotted close to the line to gain; ie, when you think there will probably be a measurement needed?

Usually, I've seen the wing official mark the spot with his foot as normal, and have the U (or whoever) hand the ball to the wing to set down where he thinks it should go. However, I've had a couple of people tell me that the Umpire should set the ball down where he thinks the ball should be based on the wing's mark. As an Umpire, I'm a bit leery of doing so because any place I set the ball could be a couple of inches off from where the wing thinks it really should be spotted.

What say you?

If it's close, toss it to the wing to get a true spot. Your instincts are right.

If it is close then the wing must bust it to the spot and put the ball down himself. Then there is no doubt.

The wing comes in to the spot and spots it himself. Tossing it out to the wing looks terrible and the umpire spotting it isn't precise enough (even though it's good enough on other plays).

If you are on the wing, and the play is in the middle of the field, bust your *** to give the spot. If it is on the sidelines and close, you have to hold the spot so I don't see a problem with the ump getting the ball to you. You'd hope the kid would give you the ball, but good luck with that.

Well, of course. I was talking about officials who have a spot inside the hash marks who stop and spot the ball in the sidezone rather than busting in -- I see guys do it all the time and it looks terrible. My crew knows they have to come in -- and if it's close I'll be yelling "get a spot, get a spot" if they don't immediately pick up on it.

Thanks guys. It's always nice to have my instincts validated.

Hand it to the wing.

As RMR said - HAND it to the wing, don't toss it. If you make a poor toss and he instinctively moves to catch it, then he's lost his spot.

The hardest thing is when it is the head Linesman's spot and close to the front stick. He is reliant on the Line Judge to be yelling "Close, close" to draw him in to the exact spot (East/West as well as North/South). Under no circumstances do you want the HL turning away from dead ball action by players and looking over his shoulder at the front stick himself.

The great Linesmen have a good idea (before the ball is snapped) of where team A need to get to to make a 1st - that patch of mud, that next 5yd line, that faded grass, etc.

The wing loses his precision when he comes in to the spot - the umpire may as well spot it at this point.

Bring the ball out to the wing and have him set it.

No, the wing sees the spot of the field where the ball should be spotted and he runs to that spot. He puts the ball down exactly where he saw it become dead.

I couldn't disagree more. As written, that is a terrible mechanic.

Everyone on here as well as all NFL officials and all NCAA FBS I have ever seen do it the way I described. Might be possible that they know what is best.

You've never seen an NFL or NCAA official square off a spot?

Seeing the spot where the ball became dead and running straight to it (regardless of your position on the field) is a terrible mechanic.

Squaring off has nothing to do with anything, one can do that and still run to the spot.

A more important question would be have you ever seen an NFL or NCAA official bring the ball into the side zone for a measurement after it became dead between the inbounds lines?

It did when responding to your post "as written".

Outside the 5 (going in/out), I've never seen an NFL or NCAA spot the ball inside the hashes. I wasn't advocating bringing the ball to the sideline for spots on plays that end inside the hashes.

I was simply pointing out that no one runs completely straight. You lose more precision the further you run. That doesn't mean you should never come in a "sell" a spot.

A wing official is not trying to run in a straight line. They're running to the "blade of grass" where they saw the ball become dead.

No, I said the official runs to the spot. You changed that to "running straight to it (regardless of your position on the field)."

The official running to where he saw the ball become dead. He is not trying to spot the ball on the sideline and run straight in.

A wing official will square off to every spot he is getting. To be pedantic - every spot unless the spot is actually on the sideline or very near to it.

The key point of this thread is about:-
a) on routine plays he comes in just a few steps and doesn't come too far inbounds.
b) if there is trouble at the pile, then he may come in further to make his presence felt.
c) on spots close to a 1st down, he comes all the way in and is handed the ball so he can put it exactly where he wants it.

But on all of these occasions, his movement is done by a "squaring off" motion. Getting into the squaring off habit keeps the accuracy.

I saw a NFL game today where the wing official was well in to the opposite side zone when marking the spot.

I love cross-field mechanics. With a pile up in a sidezone, the far wing is the best one to get a spot.

If anybody caught the Houston @ Arizona game yesterday, there was a great example of wings crashing in on short yardage situation. On 4th down of Arizona's goal line stand at the end of the game, both wings came all the way inside the hashmarks to mark the Houston runner short of the endzone.

This is something I haven't paid a lot of attention to before but it looked crisp and I had no doubt as a viewer that they had their spot.