Taking a knee

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by JasonTX

Do you tell them to "be careful" on every play of the game? The defense, I believe, is fully aware that they cannot hit a player after the ball is dead. When you tell a kid to "be careful" on a kneel down you have essentially told him to not go full speed.

Actually I tell players a lot of the time stuff not to do during the game when the ball is dead. That is what I have done for years and just about every official that knows anything about football does the same thing. Oh, it is not just a HS thing; it is a college thing too from my experience. We talk to players a lot so we do not have to throw flags or unsportsmanlike or even personal fouls. Why is this time any different?

Originally Posted by JasonTX

You have a muffed snap and the defense has basically quit because that is how they interpret your "be careful" you have taken away their right to play to 0:00. I believe in preventive officiating 100%. I'm just as prepared to flag a late hit on a kneel down play just as I am a normal play in the first qtr.

But you keep talking about a muffed snap which I almost never seen at this point of the game at any level. If there is a muffed snap, then so be it. And if you think players only listen to us anyway, then you give us a little more credit then we deserve. I talk to players in a lot of football games and there is still a flag thrown for the very thing I warned them about. Sometimes the very player I warned for their behavior. Yep, the only listen to what we say.

Originally Posted by JasonTX

I'm quickly coming in when he takes a knee, just as I do on any other play where there are piles of players after making a tackle. As I said previously, if you are expecting the players to ease up, then just let the clock run without a delay foul.

Why change what you did the entire game right? Remember you said that everything is the same so why do you need to come in quickly? Sounds to me you are doing something you are being critical of others for doing. And again, I did not tell them to ease up or stop playing football; we tell them to be careful. Again this is what we do; it does not have to be what you do. In the culture of “our game” teams do the sportsmanlike thing and do not try to charge on a kneel down play. That is not just from what the officials tell them, that is how the coaches expect them to behave.

I will give one more analogy. This is kind of like the discussion people had about the Mayweather-Ortiz fight last night. There are some standards that are expected even when you are participating in a sport. Right or wrong on a football field you better be prepared to protect yourself. And some in that discussion felt that you should only wait until everything was OK to.

The bottom line is most games this is not even an issue. Most games are not one possession games where the snap a bad snap is going to decide the game. I have yet to have a game this year was even in question. Most games are blowouts or more than 2 possession games where even a bad snap would not change the outcome of any game. So this fear that "what if.." is really kind of silly to me. Most of the time the game is clearly over and the teams want to go on to the next week with all their players eligible the next game.

Peace