Forward progress questions
 

When a runner is down in the middle of the field, and the Line Judge and Head Linesman come in to spot the ball, and they have slightly different spots, how is it determined which official spots the ball?

During the Thursday night game at the end, when the safety was ruled, and then Harbaugh wanted the measurement to see if the spot was short of the line to gain, what would happen if the spotting official, seeing Walt Anderson call the safety, picked up the ball, thinking the safety would never be declined.

Rock, paper, scissors.

The official would have to put the ball down.

The one whose spot is least likely to result in a measurement. :D

Split these last few posts into its their own thread.

As to your second question, and NFL officials should know this, it is not wise to assume what the team will do. Get a good spot and keep it so you know what the options are for the team. If needed, I imagine instant replay could help figure out the spot.

When I'm U (or R in 3-man), I don't go with the closest official but rather the one toward whom the ball is facing when the player goes down. Usually, one of the two officials has the player between himself and the ball --- go with the other guy.

On my crew, H and L knew which guy that was and whoever had the wrong view would move to match his partner - all this before U even got the ball in most cases.

That's the answer to question 1. And the wing opposite the ball should know this and adjust to mirror the covering wing, so that the problem is gone by the time the U spots the ball.

The answer to question 2 is: no NFL wing would ever lose his spot because someone else threw a flag. You ALWAYS need to know the result of the play. That would be quite a rookie error (or, for an NFL official, a career-ending brain fart).

You can also add that the NFL is placing the ball at the spot and relaying in another ball for the U. The original ball isn't moved until the U has the spot.

Our practice in 7-man NCAA games is to spot the same football inside the numbers and get a new football when the play ends at the numbers or outside.

Since the NFL hashmarks are about six inches apart :D, I'm not sure of their practice.

Is this true in the middle of the field, as in the OP?

The NFL mechanic is the same is the NCAA mechanic in terms of ball rotation: Use the same ball if between the numbers, new ball from numbers/sideline.

Of course, the NFL umpire I know only has three spots for where he places the ball (left hash, middle, right hash), where I usually use 5 (left hash, left upright, middle, right upright, right hash).

In this situation Walt Anderson does not signal safety because that isn't the result of the play, only a foul that happened in the end zone. Pretty simple here. The official gives a tweet, tweet on his whistle so the others know he has a foul. The dead ball spot is being held while all the options are being given to the offended team. Never should a safety signal be given if that isn't the result of the play. The safety signal would only be given if the offended team accepts the penalty.