The Dreaded Inadvertant Whistle
 

We had one on Friday night that really affected the game and my crew's performance. QB runs a beautiful option play, FB gets tackled at the LOS and the QB pulls the ball and runs downfield with no defenders in sight. The HL blows the play dead thinking the FB was down with the ball. In his defense, he was staring directly into the 5pm sun and this was the first option play they ran that night. He knows not to blow unless he sees leather but the previous series the coaches were on him for having a slow whistle.

Anyway, my question is: What mechanics do you use when signaling a IW besides the "fist punch"? and Any advice on how to get the crew past a bad mental state after the IW?

Thanks.

Not sure what other signal you're looking for. Figure out the options and enforce them properly - apologize to the irate coach - enjoy the free beer after the game.

I used to have 2 guys on my crew that were IW machines. They'd have at least 3 a season. So it taught me how to handle IWs:

(1) Know the rules.
(2) Know that you need to talk to the coach. Let him rant for a bit.
(3) At some point, tell the coach he has X seconds to get it all out of his system and then we're ALL putting it behind us and moving on. Don't be a doormat to this coach the rest of the night -- it does nobody any good.

It sucks. My LJ had one last week (the crew's first since 2005) and I'm sure he's looking forward to getting it behind him. And it had no effect on the game.

We will have several plays a game with no whistle. Tell the coaches the play ends when the ball becomes dead, not when we blow the whistle. When we blow the whistle the ball is ALREADY dead. I friggin' hate hearing coaches yelling about playing to the whistle. Play til the down ends, not the whistle.

I hear this from coaches all the time, especially when a coach wants to whine about a flag for a late hit. The players have to have some awareness and can't rely on a whistle to tell them when to stop beating each other up.

"An official's whistle seldom kills the ball. It is already dead by rule."

Coaches and fans seem to have more trouble grasping this fundamental than any other thing in football.

We actually have late whistles because we want to make sure that we see leather in possession and the player down before blowing the whistle. Always with whistle in hand to make sure that you have a bit of time before blowing a play dead. I'd rather be a little late than a little early...IMHO Jim

"Coach, that's one thing we won't even discuss. We will be slow and even get slower. Because if we blow one early, you're going to be the first one in our face if it went against you."

Shut down any talk of slow whistles. And preach it to your crew.

In area of Wisconsin we have had more and more teams going back to the option and we preach hard if you don't see the ball, and don't guess, then don't blow your whistle. You must trust the other members of the crew. We should never let a coach(es) influence the way we officiate the game, easier said than done I know. If the coaches are getting to you then that is the time when we need to shut them down. The game is hard enough without 10 other yahoos yelling at you every play!

I know what you mean about the option. Seems like every other week we have a team that runs it and we've had the best option team I've seen at least 10 times the last 5 years. In the coach's meeting, the head coach always mentions other crew's IW and reminds us he's got an option team. Although the last time he didn't, so maybe he recognized the crew. Or something.

I've had at least a dozen instances of following the QB as he moves with the ball then losing the football only to see another player with it 15 yards downfield. Since my whistle is nowhere near my mouth (and as the WH I very, very rarely blow my whistle except to mark the ball RFP) all I do is laugh when this happens and then tell my wings that they had great whistle control afterwards.

From what I've seen on coaching Web sites, expect to see even more hand-or-keep options in years to come. Plus play series where handing or keeping isn't an option, but can be hard to detect even from the referee's perspective, like fly series, full spin, and double dive -- and R has a better view of them than any other official would. A few are teaching handoff techniques that keep the ball really close to the vest, and a considerable number are using the "layered" technique wherein actually carrying the ball and pantomiming it look identical. Even hiding who's getting the snap may be getting more common.

We usually have 8-10 plays where we don't have a whistle at all.

I always like to have a whistle even if late. The players expect it and I find that it makes officiating easier. For example, if a lineman is blocking downfield he has no clue whether the runner is down or not. While I can always hit him w a flag if he is blocking after the play, but it sure makes it easier when a whistle has been blown.

The problem with this is that now you're saying it's different if a player flattens someone before a whistle than after. And it's not that way at all -- it's a problem if a player flattens someone once the ball is dead.

And to bring this thread full circle, the only time that happens is when we have an inadvertent whistle.

One of my partners had an IW today during a JV game. The runner started to go down, but kept himself up and gained enough for a first down. Whistle was blown where he slipped, which was near the LOS. Offense fumbled and turned it over the next down. It was a light whistle and thankfully he owned up to it but it was not fun.