"Sleeper" Play

[bisonlj]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

To those late in the thread that would not call this illegal because they can't hear, and thus think there may not be any verbal cues... this is EXACTLY why they changed the rule from just verbal to 'actions or verbal'. I do agree that if someone was shouting, "snap it now", that might make it different... but it seems blatantly clear to me (and honestly, it worries me that it's not obvious to you) that this was a DESIGNED event intended to make the defense not believe a snap was imminent. I mean - they all look to the side, and only one player takes off at the snap. How could this not be designed to make the defense fall asleep. This play is the very definition of this rule.

Saw something similar in a playoff game this year, but the QB was the only one looking to the sideline. Do you feel that is a foul as well? The other issue the crew missed is the QB was still in motion when the ball was snapped and the RB next to him had taken 2 steps to the side to receive the snap. They should have been flagged for an illegal shift or illegal motion (depending on whether you judged the back had stopped for 1 second prior to the snap).