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

[BroKen62]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

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.

Wow, I have never heard or seen any of this. Can you be more specific as to when all of this took place? B/C I've been playing/watching football since 1969 and this is the first time I've heard of this. When you say "downfield" do you mean beyond the neutral zone in the field of play? it's hard to imagine a wide receiver running a route before the ball is snapped and that not being a dead ball foul.