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41

National Football League / Re: Regime; culture

« Last post by ElvisLives on April 13, 2026, 09:56:58 AM »

All good information, but the section I quoted above is not a new thing with the NFL (or with any other level of football officiating).  It might be more common now, but I have first-hand knowledge of a few officials who had this happen to them by the NFL about 40 years ago.  Also, a good friend who was in the Arena league many years later, spoke with one of the NFL leaders (not in leadership when the official in question was released) at a golf tournament and asked about one of those officials.  The leader's immediate words were, "he got screwed."

Sad, but true.

42

National Football League / Re: Regime; culture

« Last post by Grant - AR on April 13, 2026, 09:42:31 AM »

I will go on record as saying that nearly all of the non-favorites are exceptional officials, who deserve to be in the NFL, and belong there. Yet, almost every year, one or more of these exceptional officials get released for ‘poor performance.’ Leading up to their dismissal, the execs search for things - almost anything - they can find to downgrade these non-favorites. By doing so, and releasing these folks, the execs can claim they are holding officials accountable, and making officiating better.

All good information, but the section I quoted above is not a new thing with the NFL (or with any other level of football officiating).  It might be more common now, but I have first-hand knowledge of a few officials who had this happen to them by the NFL about 40 years ago.  Also, a good friend who was in the Arena league many years later, spoke with one of the NFL leaders (not in leadership when the official in question was released) at a golf tournament and asked about one of those officials.  The leader's immediate words were, "he got screwed." 

43

National Football League / Re: Regime; culture

« Last post by oldtimerref on April 12, 2026, 10:15:10 PM »

Regardless of what is said, the man never worked  on the field  in  fact he was an intern for Jerry Seeman VP of officials. Jerry saw that he was a great student of rules and gave him the job to design a REPLAY SYSTEM.  i  never heard that there was ever any intent for him to be anything more. Again it would be interesting to see the man work a good high school game in Texas.

44

National Football League / Re: Regime; culture

« Last post by dammitbobby on April 12, 2026, 07:10:50 PM »

The NFL  has created this problem by allowing a V.P.  to run the operation unchecked. Having ex coaches as raters is almost laughable. In order to bring in new officials ,I  know of examples of several young men working high school 3 years , college next 3, then promoted to power 4 conference the next year. Several years later to NFL even if possibly not ready. I was mocked for questioning replay officials never having worked any football on the field and now if replacements are used these people are going to HELP with on field calls. The current UFL VP of officials has never been an official on the field and I would really like to see him on field even in a high school game. It would be interesting. It appears that the current situation in the NFL deals more with lawyers, unions and law suits than officiating. WHAT NEXT!!!!!

The only person I know of who you could be referencing would be Dean Blandino, and honestly, he's the exception to the rule. He is indisputably a rules savant for every league/conference he's ever worked for, and IMO has made significant improvements and contributions to officiating.

45

NCAA Discussion / Re: Rules Changes Document

« Last post by ElvisLives on April 12, 2026, 01:51:52 PM »

Some playclocks are programmed to be either 25 or 40.  There is no function  to set them at 10 seconds on the ones I have ran.  I guess they can put it on 25 and run it down to 10 if that ever comes into play.

Yeah, they’d have to run it down to get anything between 25 and 40, or less than 25. Least of my replay complaints. I liked replay to fix a missed touching of the ball, step out of bounds, ball touching ground before firm hold of ball, etc. Not a fan of using it for much of anything else.
(Says the guy (R) that holds the FBS record for longest replay review in history. 😒)

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NCAA Discussion / Re: Rules Changes Document

« Last post by JasonTX on April 12, 2026, 01:16:47 PM »

Some playclocks are programmed to be either 25 or 40.  There is no function  to set them at 10 seconds on the ones I have ran.  I guess they can put it on 25 and run it down to 10 if that ever comes into play.

47

National Football League / Re: Regime; culture

« Last post by oldtimerref on April 12, 2026, 09:59:48 AM »

The NFL  has created this problem by allowing a V.P.  to run the operation unchecked. Having ex coaches as raters is almost laughable. In order to bring in new officials ,I  know of examples of several young men working high school 3 years , college next 3, then promoted to power 4 conference the next year. Several years later to NFL even if possibly not ready. I was mocked for questioning replay officials never having worked any football on the field and now if replacements are used these people are going to HELP with on field calls. The current UFL VP of officials has never been an official on the field and I would really like to see him on field even in a high school game. It would be interesting. It appears that the current situation in the NFL deals more with lawyers, unions and law suits than officiating. WHAT NEXT!!!!!

48

NCAA Discussion / Re: Rules Changes Document

« Last post by Etref on April 11, 2026, 04:00:33 PM »

If this rule works like I am hoping it does, no swinging gate formation would qualify as an SKF, so they would be required to fully comply with mandatory numbering. Not illegal, but they wouldn’t qualify to use numbering exceptions.

Which hopefully might put an end to the swinging gate

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NCAA Discussion / Re: Rules Changes Document

« Last post by ElvisLives on April 11, 2026, 10:11:11 AM »

How would this work for a swinging gate formation? (I personally think it's the dumbest thing teams do in football, but I'm a ref, not a coach, so.)

If this rule works like I am hoping it does, no swinging gate formation would qualify as an SKF, so they would be required to fully comply with mandatory numbering. Not illegal, but they wouldn’t qualify to use numbering exceptions.

50

NCAA Discussion / Re: Rules Changes Document

« Last post by dammitbobby on April 11, 2026, 12:31:01 AM »

-Scrimmage kick formation numbering exceptions
They are on the right track, but they’ve left ambiguities. So, does this mean they MUST have two linemen on each side of the snapper to qualify as a SKF? If so, and they are all ineligible, regardless of numbers, then I believe the problem is solved. There are your ineligibles (regardless of their numbers).
And I hope this is the case. Team A will simply not be able to confuse Team B regarding eligibles, if they MUST have two players adjacent to the snapper, on each side of the snapper. We shall see.

How would this work for a swinging gate formation? (I personally think it's the dumbest thing teams do in football, but I'm a ref, not a coach, so.)