Critique me, please

[busman]

Four man crew, I am R.  2nd and 11, about 14 seconds left in the first quarter.  QB rolls right, no receiver open, tucks and carries about 2 yards.  Gets hit, ball pops out. My LJ is down 10-12 yards with receivers works his way back and blows an IW while the ball is clearly on the ground, unposessed.  I an trailing the play, look up and see 6 seconds on the clock.  I wave to stop the clock, but eco let's it run off.  I explain to my LJ he had an IW (enough about that), go to both sidelines and explain what happens.  Offense decides to replay the down.  So I tell U to reset it.  Look over for the chains and the H has already reset them for the start of the second quarter. 

Now the dliemna.  I choose to bring the chains back, reset the clock for 6 seconds (which we had to keep on the field), start it on the ready and hope and pray they get the snap off in time.  They did.  Of course, by bringing the chains back, we had to guestimate the spot.  We know it was second and 11, and the ball was straddling the 25, so it wasn't too far off anyway.

Should I have ignored the six seconds and given them second down on the first play of the quarter?

[ppaltice]

I think you should have left the game in the hands of your capable crew and went for a beer.

Personally, I would have done just what you did.  When in doubt, do what the rule book says.  You just need to have a long discussion with your crew after the game (see the ball before you blow the whistle, alwayswait for the referee to move the chains, and keep an eye out for a stop the clock signal (you were tweet-tweeting, right?)).

You may have wanted to communicate with your HL more.  He may have had no idea what was happening.  If it was me, I would have come in and asked, but it sounds like your crew was fairly green.  So a quick "hold your spot" to the HL before you discussed with the LJ and coach would have helped out the matter.  I also would not have gone to the coach until everything was squared away on the field.

[Curious]

I think you should have left the game in the hands of your capable crew and went for a beer.

Nothing "good" ever happens from an IW..............except (maybe) the perpetrator learns to see leather!

[LarryW60]

Critique me, please

You're a HORRIBLE, horrible person!

Oh, you meant what was in the post.   

You can never go wrong with going by the book.  Trying to "wing it" will usually come back to bite you in the arse later on.  I also agree that the HL needed to know that something was not right, so he could leave the chains where they were.  By the time you got through with all that other stuff, I would have been on the other end of the field with the chains as well.

In regards to the ECO, I'd be having a talk with him/her as well as soon as possible.  What was their reason for running the rest of the time off?  We (jokingly) will chide an ECO who leaves a second on the clock before a half ends, but we realize the ECO is watching us on the field, not the clock.  WE told the ECO to stop it then.  There's no excuse for running six more seconds off the clock after it has been stopped via signal on the field.

[younggun]

Four man crew, I am R.  2nd and 11, about 14 seconds left in the first quarter.  QB rolls right, no receiver open, tucks and carries about 2 yards.  Gets hit, ball pops out. My LJ is down 10-12 yards with receivers works his way back and blows an IW while the ball is clearly on the ground, unposessed.  I an trailing the play, look up and see 6 seconds on the clock.  I wave to stop the clock, but eco let's it run off.  I explain to my LJ he had an IW (enough about that), go to both sidelines and explain what happens.  Offense decides to replay the down.  So I tell U to reset it.  Look over for the chains and the H has already reset them for the start of the second quarter. 

Now the dliemna.  I choose to bring the chains back, reset the clock for 6 seconds (which we had to keep on the field), start it on the ready and hope and pray they get the snap off in time.  They did.  Of course, by bringing the chains back, we had to guestimate the spot.  We know it was second and 11, and the ball was straddling the 25, so it wasn't too far off anyway.

Should I have ignored the six seconds and given them second down on the first play of the quarter?

Here is your critique... you spelt 'unposessed' wrong and 'dliemna' wrong.... thats what you were talking about right?

[AlUpstateNY]

You did the right thing.  Not having seen the play, there are a couple of possibilities that might explain the 6 seconds running off the clock.  Depending on how far you were trailing the play, you may have been outside the ECO's focus.  Looking at the clock and noting the time at which you signalled is a great mechanic.  I presume you continued signalling until the clock ran all the way down. 

This circumstance underscores the importance of OTHER officials picking up and repeating ANY official's TO signals, as circumstances may cause the ECO to be focusing elsewhere than the official initially signalling the TO.

[lawdog]

You did the best you could with what you had...  HL needs to get the "hold the spot" notice from you and to the chain crew.  IW's happen but they are a mess.  I white hatted a 9th grade game last night and my linesman blew one on the opening kickoff just as he was winding the clock?!?!?!  I said, "oh boy, its going to be one of those nights..."  and it was!

[VALJ]

Yeah, IW's can be a bitch.  My LJ had one on a fourth and goal last week - the RB was piled up but hadn't been stopped yet, and blew the whistle right after the RB had pitched the ball back to another guy behind him, who went into the EZ.  The A coach was upset that he didn't get the TD, and the B coach was upset because he thought forward progress had been stopped.  And then A got stuffed on the replay.

Fortunately, B went three and out, and A scored on the next possession.  Even more fortunately, the game was a 30-point ballgame, so it didn't really affect the game.  My LJ said it was his first IW of his career, in his fourth year, and I told him that he had a hell of a run lasting that long.

[RickKY]

U and R should agree the quarter is actually over and on the down. distance, yard line and ball position.  Then we confirm same with HL.  Then raise the ball signaling end of quarter and move.  Before you move deal with any administration of penalties or, in this case, an IW.  Crew communication is paramount.  Discuss this with you crew, and cite this most recent case as why you will do this in the future.  Make it a learning opportunity.