Author Topic: Inadvertant Whistle  (Read 4276 times)

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Offline okhall

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Inadvertant Whistle
« on: October 05, 2017, 09:52:46 AM »
Team A punted the ball.  B1 caught the punt and was running with the ball, when A2 started the tackling procedure, but then he stripped the ball.  As he started down the field, the official blew his whistle stopping the play.  A2 would have scored a touchdown untouched.  We gave the ball to team A in the location of where it was when the whistle was blown. Is this the right ruling?  If not, what is the right ruling?

Offline VA Official

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Re: Inadvertant Whistle
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2017, 10:09:22 AM »
Team A punted the ball.  B1 caught the punt and was running with the ball, when A2 started the tackling procedure, but then he stripped the ball.  As he started down the field, the official blew his whistle stopping the play.  A2 would have scored a touchdown untouched.  We gave the ball to team A in the location of where it was when the whistle was blown. Is this the right ruling?  If not, what is the right ruling?

Sounds like R1 had possession of the ball, fumbled, and the fumble was possessed by a player on K. This is a live ball and action should be allowed to continue. The covering official may have gotten this confused with a muffed punt (touched but never possessed by R) in which the ball is dead once K possesses it. So, on this play we have an inadvertent whistle. There are 3 scenarios that could have happened here, and they will determine who gets the ball/option and where.

Situation 1: IW occurs before R fumbles. R has the option to keep the ball at the spot of possession at the time of the IW, or replay the down.
Situation 2: IW occurs while the fumble is still loose. R has the option to keep the ball at the spot of last possession (where the ball was fumbled, and where we hopefully have a bean bag), or replay the down.
Situation 3: IW occurs while K is in possession. K has the option to keep the ball at the spot of possession at the time of the IW, or replay the down. They will obviously keep the ball here.

In all 3 situations, own up to the coaches about what happened and be ready for some intensity directed towards you from K's.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2017, 10:11:13 AM by VA Official »

Offline theunofficialofficial

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Re: Inadvertant Whistle
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2017, 02:14:15 PM »
VA Official - great Situations. What would be the clock status with each of those?


Ralph, I've always found it odd that whenever we have an IW that the clock starts on the Ready-for-Play (3-4-2c) rather than on the snap. We just screwed the team out of a play and now we are going to take more time off the clock? What's the philosophy around having the clock start on the RFP after an IW?

Offline VA Official

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Re: Inadvertant Whistle
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2017, 09:17:40 PM »
VA Official - great Situations. What would be the clock status with each of those?


Ralph, I've always found it odd that whenever we have an IW that the clock starts on the Ready-for-Play (3-4-2c) rather than on the snap. We just screwed the team out of a play and now we are going to take more time off the clock? What's the philosophy around having the clock start on the RFP after an IW?

In all 3, we start on the snap unless R elects to replay the down. If R elects to replay, we then start on the RFP. Major clock stoppers (3-4-3) always trump minor clock stoppers (3-4-2). IW is a minor clock stopper, but a new series awarded to either team following a legal kick is a major clock stopper. That answer somewhat got into your question for Ralph, but I’ll leave that discussion up to the man himself.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2017, 09:23:07 PM by VA Official »

Offline bama_stripes

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Re: Inadvertant Whistle
« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2017, 05:41:29 AM »
In the same vein:

If the justification for starting on the snap is to allow teams to change personnel, why is this not done following ANY legal scrimmage kick, and not just those resulting in a first down?

Offline VA Official

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Re: Inadvertant Whistle
« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2017, 06:59:10 AM »
In the same vein:

If the justification for starting on the snap is to allow teams to change personnel, why is this not done following ANY legal scrimmage kick, and not just those resulting in a first down?

The only kick scenario where we wouldn't have a team awarded a new series is a 3rd down punt where K recovers a kick (untouched by R) in or behind the NZ and doesn't make the LTG. While it can happen, it's an extremely rare scenario. 99.99% of downs after a legal kick will start on the snap.

Offline Ralph Damren

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Re: Inadvertant Whistle
« Reply #6 on: October 06, 2017, 08:26:37 AM »
In all 3, we start on the snap unless R elects to replay the down. If R elects to replay, we then start on the RFP. Major clock stoppers (3-4-3) always trump minor clock stoppers (3-4-2). IW is a minor clock stopper, but a new series awarded to either team following a legal kick is a major clock stopper. That answer somewhat got into your question for Ralph, but I’ll leave that discussion up to the man himself.
Well explained, VA official. tiphat:

Offline Ralph Damren

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Re: Inadvertant Whistle
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2017, 08:35:15 AM »
In the same vein:

If the justification for starting on the snap is to allow teams to change personnel, why is this not done following ANY legal scrimmage kick, and not just those resulting in a first down?
If the down is to be repeated on a scrimmage kick ,the rationale is that the same personnel will remain. Example : booming punt but K flagged for IF. K & R will keep the same units on the field. Exception : If down is to be repeated after a fair catch, start on snap. Example : same as above example other than R fair catches the booming punt.

IMHO, fair catches being a major clock stopper were in the rules in case R wanted to free kick. Along came 1996 and COP was added as a major clock stopper.

IMHO, a fair catch should no longer be a major clock stopper.

IMHO, not everyone listens to my opinion.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2017, 10:18:52 AM by Ralph Damren »