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Football Officiating => Texas Topics => Topic started by: ElvisLives on May 31, 2019, 11:51:25 AM
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There has been a concerted effort to align the TASO Manual for a Crew of 7 with the CCA Manual, specifically with respect to receiver "keys." Be sure you download the manual from the TASO web site, or your local Chapter web site, if available there, and study the changes. They aren't massive, but they are significant.
By the way, just as a reminder, a "key" is someone you check immediately at the snap, to see if you need to continue to observe action on/by him, or if you can move your attention to the next "threat." The goal is to find the highest priority "threat" at a given moment, and make sure the action on/by that/those players is observed.
The biggest errors I see made by officials with receiver keys is that they
1) abandon their key at the snap, and "ball watch;" or
2) focus exclusively on their initial key, and don't come off of him when he isn't threatened, to check some other "threat."
FYI, my NFL contacts tell me that they no longer think so much in terms of "keys," as much as "areas of responsibility." They observe the actions in their respective areas of responsibility, and find the priority "threat," at any given time. Ultimately, that is essentially the same thing as "keys," but they just don't tie themselves to a specific individual at the snap.
Outside the NFL, I like the idea of "keys," so that we can be sure that we aren't overlapping observation. With their training, and experience, NFL guys don't necessarily need "keys," and don't often overlap observation inadvertently.
Robert
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I've heard the term "initial responsibility" used in place of keys. This aligns with your thinking as well. I think this concept is very important because then you can also talk about when to switch keys which also ensures officials stay on the same page. If nobody comes into your area of responsibility you still need to stay with a key most of the time. The exception would be a run to the opposite side where you are just doing cleanup on the back side in general.
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tiphat:
I always went with
Man - initial key
Zone- area of responsibilities
Man- in area of responsibility