Defensive Signals

[ccbestul]

Did a 4 hour scrimmage yesterday and a question came up with when defensive signal calling becomes illegal.
Sit: A QB had his hands under the center and sent a man in motion. Defense was playing a Monster to the strong side. During the motion, B yells "Roger Roger" (for right) and an offensive lineman jumps. Ref. flags and penalizes B for disrupting QB signals. His rule of thumb is once a quarter back has his hands under the center, any defensive signals that cause A to jump, the penalty is on B. Being a BJ, I'm curious, is the the rule of thumb used by all Referees?

[Tom Cook]

I would not want to call a penalty on the defence if the defensive player was really calling a legimate signal or warning to his teamates. The defense has as much right to call signals as the offense, as long as they are not imitating a "hut" or "hike". I think that this is an instance where you can really do some preventative officiating and warn the defensive signal-caller if he is borderline. Your first action shouldn't be a flag unless the first action is obviously meant to deceive.

[Mike Simonds]

Good points Tom. I'm curious, I thought the umpire should make this call. Can the referee make it also?

[TXMike]

It may be easier for the R to hear since he is facing the defense. The defense has their backs to the U so he may not hear. This is especially true if you have a big wind coming from behind the defense.

As to the original post, sounds like legitimate defensive signal calling to me. I would not even warn the defense. Maybe if the QB was saying "dodger" instead of "hut" then some action would be warranted but does not sound like taht was the case here.