Great Common Sense Officiating

[cincybearcat]

Not sure if anyone caught this or not.  I believe it was the Dallas/Tenn game.  With about 2:30 left in the game...Dallas had the ball in hurry up offense.  One of the Tenn defenders helmet came off during the play, and he didn't have a chance to run back and get it before the offense lined up for the next play.  The white hat (Coleman I believe) waited until the next snap was imminent before killing the clock for the player to get his helmet back...in order not to give the offense an unfair advantage.  GREAT OFFICIATING!

[TXMike]

I saw it (R was Triplette).  It appeared he did not even realize the Tenn player was missing a helmet.  Dallas was not trying to take advantage of that.  They were in a hurry up mode.  The defender knew that so hustled to get on his side and did not worry about retrieving his helmet.  At some point Triplette looked behind himself and saw the helmet on the ground.  He went to it, picked it up, and then shut things down.   If memory serves he then did not have the clock restarted until the snap which was a good move.

[Kalle]

This is actually an interesting situation. What if the team B player is trying to gain an unfair advantage by intentionally leaving his equipment on the field? When you shut the play down you give the defense time to react by either substituting or retrieving the helmet. How would you address "leftover" equipment in a hurryup situation?

[TXMike]

I am not going to let play start without everyone having helmets on, I don't care what "tactical advantage" they gain. If I judge it was done intentionally then I would invoke "obviously unfair acts" and deal with it.  Likely a 5 yard "delay of game" penalty 1st time with a warning not to repeat.

[Kalle]

How about charging a timeout as per 1-4-4, even if not done intentionally?

[LarryW60]

At our level of play, the Fed has been trying to get away from having the officials break out the tea leaves to try and determine intent.