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Posted by Mike Florio on January 11, 2009, 2:18 p.m.
In the wake of Saturday night’s failure of the officials to kill a key fourth-quarter play by the Ravens after the play clock clearly had gone to zero, the league could be addressing the current procedure for calling a delay of game penalty.
Chris Mortensen of ESPN says that he spoke with a member of the Competition Committee on Sunday morning, and the committee member conceded to Mort that the issue will come up soon, presumably in conjunction with the annual league meetings in March.
As Mort pointed out, the fact that Titans coach Jeff Fisher is a co-chair of the committee might make change more likely.
The current system invites inconsistency. As Mortensen explained, the back judge is charged with eyeballing the play clock. Then, if it hits zero, the back judge looks to see if the ball has been snapped.
If the back judge sees that the play has started, the back judge lets the play proceed. If the ball hasn’t been snapped, the back judge throws the flag.
But this gives the offense some cushion after the big lighted number at each end of the field changes from “1″ to “0″. The extent of the cushion varies based on the speed with which the back judge turns his attention from the clock to the center and blows the whistle.
We suggested last night the use of an NBA-style buzzer, which would go off the instant the clock strikes zero. If the ball has been snapped by that moment, the play proceeds. If not, the play stops and the penalty is imposed.
Here’s another idea — assign one of the officials to simultaneously keep one eye on the formation and another eye on the play clock. Then, as the clock gets under five, the official would put a whistle in his mouth and count down the last few seconds and blow the whistle at zero, if the ball hasn’t been snapped.
And if there’s any real concern that the official can’t count down the last few seconds in his head while staring intently at whether the ball is snapped in time, why not give the back judge a hand-held device synched up to the play clock that counts down the last ten seconds, so that the offical can hold the thing in a manner that allows him to include the ball, the center, and the hand-held device in his field of vision?
Regardless of the solution, the problem has been identified. And it needs to be fixed.
Any time the ball isn’t snapped by the time the play clock expires, a penalty needs to be imposed. Any other procedure serves only to reduce public confidence in the quality of the officiating.
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In the wake of Saturday night’s failure of the officials to kill a key fourth-quarter play by the Ravens after the play clock clearly had gone to zero, the league could be addressing the current procedure for calling a delay of game penalty.
Chris Mortensen of ESPN says that he spoke with a member of the Competition Committee on Sunday morning, and the committee member conceded to Mort that the issue will come up soon, presumably in conjunction with the annual league meetings in March.
As Mort pointed out, the fact that Titans coach Jeff Fisher is a co-chair of the committee might make change more likely.
The current system invites inconsistency. As Mortensen explained, the back judge is charged with eyeballing the play clock. Then, if it hits zero, the back judge looks to see if the ball has been snapped.
If the back judge sees that the play has started, the back judge lets the play proceed. If the ball hasn’t been snapped, the back judge throws the flag.
But this gives the offense some cushion after the big lighted number at each end of the field changes from “1″ to “0″. The extent of the cushion varies based on the speed with which the back judge turns his attention from the clock to the center and blows the whistle.
We suggested last night the use of an NBA-style buzzer, which would go off the instant the clock strikes zero. If the ball has been snapped by that moment, the play proceeds. If not, the play stops and the penalty is imposed.
Here’s another idea — assign one of the officials to simultaneously keep one eye on the formation and another eye on the play clock. Then, as the clock gets under five, the official would put a whistle in his mouth and count down the last few seconds and blow the whistle at zero, if the ball hasn’t been snapped.
And if there’s any real concern that the official can’t count down the last few seconds in his head while staring intently at whether the ball is snapped in time, why not give the back judge a hand-held device synched up to the play clock that counts down the last ten seconds, so that the offical can hold the thing in a manner that allows him to include the ball, the center, and the hand-held device in his field of vision?
Regardless of the solution, the problem has been identified. And it needs to be fixed.
Any time the ball isn’t snapped by the time the play clock expires, a penalty needs to be imposed. Any other procedure serves only to reduce public confidence in the quality of the officiating.
Permalink | Comments Back to Top
