"Traveling" Signal at snap

[REFANDUMP]

Originally Posted by mbyron

You're making stuff up. "Not a natural motion" and "distracting the defense" are not illegal. Doing stuff the official doesn't like or doesn't think is "proper football" is also not illegal.

Spirit of what rule? There's just no advantage to this.

I don't think I'm making stuff up at all. We're told all the time to officiate to the spirit of the rules and not the letter of the law. If they have people standing out there waving their arms or dancing, you're telling me that these aren't flagged unless their feet move or they go forward. I go back to my previous post regarding linemen "butt bobbing". Do we not flag that either ?? What criteria do we use to determine what movements are legal and what aren't. We have to use common sense and only allow movements that are common to the game, otherwise we have a travesty being created out there.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by REFANDUMP

I don't think I'm making stuff up at all. We're told all the time to officiate to the spirit of the rules and not the letter of the law. If they have people standing out there waving their arms or dancing, you're telling me that these aren't flagged unless their feet move or they go forward. I go back to my previous post regarding linemen "butt bobbing". Do we not flag that either ?? What criteria do we use to determine what movements are legal and what aren't. We have to use common sense and only allow movements that are common to the game, otherwise we have a travesty being created out there.

Stop exaggerating to try to make a point. There is a difference between dancing which would include moving feet, body and arms, than someone moving their arms. And we have never required someone to be totally still. If that is the case we would flag any offensive player that moves their head at some point and I doubt seriously anyone flags that. I get a reasonable discussion about if this specific signal should be allowed, but I do not get the position that any movement falls under the illegal category. And no one at a high level that I am aware of calls a false start for players moving while in a stance either. Usually only someone that is not familiar with football would call that kind of action. Never has their been a ruling that says a player must be totally still. They just cannot simulate the snap.

Peace