Everyone except the referee and a few players are well downfield and likely don’t recognize the play is coming back.Īn official should use the voice, not the whistle, to prevent or break up extracurricular activity, but the whistle has a lot of routine uses. A good example where that technique is handy is when the kicker is roughed on a punt. That helps ensure the box is not moved or the chains moved until the penalty is sorted out. Officials who see that a flag has been thrown should alert the crew by giving multiple short blasts of the whistle. Blowing the whistle only confirms that something has happened to cause the ball to become dead.Īfter a play ends, blowing the whistle to get the attention of another official makes sense. Remember that, by rule, the whistle rarely causes the ball to become dead. Once the snap occurs, no official should have a whistle in the mouth until the ball becomes dead. A timely whistle there can prevent unnecessary contact. That is a frequent occurrence when a runner is stopped upright repeated blasts on the whistle may prevent the runner from being unnecessarily thrown to the ground.Īll officials should strongly consider having the whistle in their mouths prior to the snap in case a dead-ball foul occurs or a team’s timeout request is granted. Repeating a whistle may be appropriate on occasion, such as when a crewmate’s whistle is weak and some players don’t stop. More than that is an indication that someone on the crew is ball-watching instead of looking off ball.Įchoing a whistle is usually unnecessary. Two whistles are OK in most circumstances. On a field goal or kick try, what would happen if no whistle were blown as the ball goes through the uprights? One whistle on a play is enough and that should be from the covering official. A couple of good habits to develop are waiting one second after seeing the ball become dead and letting an incomplete pass bounce twice before sounding the whistle. If no official can see the ball when the play ends, there should not be a whistle blown. It should be understood there is nothing wrong with having a few plays where no one blows a whistle. That will increase the time to get to the whistle and perhaps save the day. Some crews will tuck a lanyard whistle inside their shirt or put a finger whistle in their pocket when a field goal is attempted. Regardless of what mechanic is used, field goals are somewhat more susceptible to whistle problems. If the whistle is faint or if not all players let up, the whistle must be reinforced with repeated blasts and the play stopped. An official who denies blowing one will lose respect and credibility. The other lesson in that incident is inadvertent whistles should never be covered up it is dishonest. The truth is the premature whistle is a bad habit to develop and the official runs the risk of prematurely blowing the whistle on a field goal, which is exactly what happened. Kick tries are on the low end of the types of plays in which injuries occur. There is no documented evidence that such a quick whistle can or has prevented an injury. It does not the players cannot react instantaneously and they’ll continue to do what they started. The alleged benefit is the quick whistle, which by rule is actually inadvertent, will prevent unnecessary contact. Once it is apparent the kick has failed, the ball is dead by rule (NFHS 4-2-2i). If the ball goes through the uprights, it scores. The theory is nothing can happen to change the outcome of the play once the ball is kicked (happens to be true). The mechanic is to blow the whistle as soon as the ball is kicked on a try. The stray toot in the play described, though, emanated from a misguided mechanic that has permeated the ranks of prep officials for decades. None can be justified and they usually have the root in officials who tweeted when they did not have sight of the ball. Most inadvertent whistles do not have a significant impact on the game and some are completely inconsequential. The down was replayed and the field goal was kicked. The deed was done the announcement to the sparse COVID-limited crowd was met with a deafening roar.
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