WR - false start vs. illegal motion vs. illegal shift

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Not to be condescending to you ... but you've been on here long enough to know generally how valid the rules education one gets from "watching football" is.

It's actually pretty good if combined with knowledge from other sources. In this case it's very obvious, as the signals for offside, illegal motion, and illegal procedure have been the same across different codes for a very long time, and it's also very obvious whether a play was whistled dead. From this I can be very confident in telling you that, with no change in the applicable wording of the rule, it was common practice in cases where wide receivers went downfield before the snap, in those cases where the rules did not cause the play to be killed for encroachment, to allow the ball to be snapped and for the penalty to be for offsides/encroachment. Defenses were not fooled into thinking the ball was already put in play, and that being the rationale for the rule on false starts, such movements were not considered to be false starts.

IMO interpreting the action of a back who moved on an earlier snap count as a false start automatically is officiating to favor team A. Suppose you didn't; then here are the cases:

1. Team B is drawn offside.
2. Team B is not drawn offside, and by the time the ball is snapped, there is no illegal motion or shift.
3. Team B is not drawn offside, and when the ball is snapped, there is illegal motion or an illegal shift.

In case 1, you would rule a false start anyway if it appeared the action simulated the start of play. In case 2, by not calling it a false start team A is not penalized, but the execution of their play is probably messed up. In case 3, by not calling it a false start you would be depriving team B of the option of the result of the play, whose execution by A is probably messed up.

Maybe you do want to favor team A this way, but I don't think the wording of the rules calls for it. I think "simulating" here refers to a deliberate or at least consequential (in terms of affecting an opponent's play) act, as it does in a simulated substitution or simulating carrying the ball, and so a player who accidentally moves early, unless in violation of some specific provision of the rule on false starts, should not incur a false start call unless they cause the other team to react.