The NFL has pioneered, or championed, many, many good individual and crew mechanics over the years. Not the least of which is working off the field. Back in the 50s and 60s, wing officials could be seen starting somewhere between the sidelines and numbers (or worse). As the game evolved, folks like Art McNally recognized the need to change that. Wing officials got moved off the field, which, eventually, became the standard in NCAA football, and, progressively, in younger age levels levels of competitive football.
The concept of keys came from the NFL. They are now evolving away from keys as we have always known them. Rather, they are employing a system of “areas of responsibility.” This is a good technique for more advanced officials, today. Those that have worked under the old standard of keys can see the advantages of the “areas of responsibility” concept. That may become a good technique for all levels of football, as time moves forward.
There are numerous other things. Referee announcement techniques come quickly to mind. The use of preliminary signals by calling officials to the referee - once totally taboo - is now prescribed, and works well at any level of football. I could go on and on.
But, some of us have been aware of this “visual acuity” business for a few years, now, and see the potential for great harm in the quality of officiating with its use (even in the NFL). Nobody will argue with the point that a stationary posture is ideal for observing any action on the field, AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THE PROPER ANGLE TO VIEW THE ACTION. Unfortunately, those that have experience in working traditional mechanics (particularly “deep guys” in crews of 7) will attest that, for the huge majority of circumstances, we need to maintain a ‘cushion’ to retain the angle needed to see between opponents, especially those players near the sideline. If we were to stop, or just move easily along the sideline, while the players are moving past us, that angle deteriorates to the point that you can’t see through the nearest player, to see another player(s) on the opposite side of the near player. There would be no way to see an arm bar, an arm grab, early contact, contact creating a cutoff, etc. There MIGHT be one in one-hundred plays in which you could still see between the players as they moved past us. But our view would be unacceptably restricted in the other 99 plays.
What this has done, is forced NFL guys to try to find opportunities to be in a settled position, and a stationary posture. There were probably times in the past when they could have achieved this WITH a proper angle, but they just continued to do the same thing, and, in some cases, taking themselves out of the best angle. If we can take that away with us, i.e., if you find an opportunity when a stationary posture is practical and advantageous, OK, by all means. But the fear is that many lesser experienced officials will take the information from the webinar as carte blanche permission to take a starting position and just remain fixed. That would be disastrous for us as an organization.
The presenter talked about the fact that TV cameras at football games are in stationary postures. Yeah, OK. If a particular camera has the best angle to see all the critical elements of the action, then a correct ruling can be made. The same can be said for the human official. Put him in the best position, and, from a stationary posture, he, too, can make the correct ruling. But, what happens when the camera doesn’t have the right angle? Oh. Well, in the NFL, they can check the other 30 cameras to see what they could see from their angles. The only way a human official can get the right angle is, with experience, move to a position that allows him to get the right angle. That’s how he “switches cameras.” Often, that camera needs to be moving to maintain the proper angle through the action.
Time will tell if the NFL sticks with these techniques. My guess is that the general principal of trying to get to a set position, when possible and practical, will remain, but the idea of just holding and letting players run past will prove to be not such a great idea.
Teaching old dogs new tricks is great, if the new tricks are good. But this trick is like the separating thumb trick, as compared to a Matt Franco or Shin Lim card trick.
