MCM REF

Blind people can officiate! We just take off our sunglasses!

I’ll hit the fair catch interference first.

First the rule. Rule 10, Section 2:

Item 3: Muff. After a valid fair catch signal, the opportunity to catch a kick does not
end if the ball is muffed. The player who signaled for a fair catch must have a reasonable
opportunity to catch the muffed ball before it hits the ground without interference
by members of the kicking team, and regardless of whether the ball strikes
another player or an official.
Item 4: Intentional Muff. An intentional muff forward prior to a catch in order to gain
ground is an illegal bat (see 12-1-8).

I will say that this is the first time I have seen an example of this rule in person or on film, as the rule is the same in college. The key to this play was the fair catch signal. If the kick receiver did not signal for a fair catch, then the ball is live when he muffs it. It’s a fluky play, for sure, but the officials got it right. I included Item 4: Intentional Muff to show that it would be illegal for the receiver to intentionally try to bat the ball forward and run up there and catch it. The one thing that seemed strange to me is that no official ever threw a flag. It would have lent credence to what they were doing if they had a flag on the play. However, that does not change the situation, or the fact that the outcome was correct.

And this rule is the same in college, but not in high school. If the receiver muffs the ball in high school, it’s fair game, fair catch signal or not.

The penalty for fair catch interference in the NFL is a 15 yard penalty from the spot of the foul and the receiving team keeps the football.

First, the rule!

Rule 3, Section 18:

Article 2 A Player of Team A is on his line:
(a) when his shoulders face Team B’s goal line, and
(b) if he is the snapper, no part of his body is beyond the line at the snap,
(c ) if he is a non-snapper, he is not more than one foot behind the neutral zone at the
snap. (For a non-snapper to be on the line of scrimmage, the guideline officials will
use is that his helmet must break a vertical plane that would pass through the beltline
of the snapper.)
Note: Interlocking legs are permissible.

So the officials who are lined up on the line of scrimmage are counting the number of players who are in the backfield that are NOT on the line of scrimmage. We know that the offense is supposed to have 11 players on the field, 7 of those are supposed to be on the line of scrimmage. We know that if the offense has 11 players on the field, and there are more than 4 in the backfield, then we do not have 7 on the line of scrimmage, and we have a foul when the ball is snapped. It is not a foul until the ball is snapped because the offense can always shift their formation at any time before the snap to fix the formation. The officials are looking to see if the helmet of the offensive linemen are breaking the plane of the waistline of the snapper. The problems usually arrive in punt formations and obvious passing downs when the linemen try to “cheat” back from the line to get a head start on the defense. You also see problems when the offensive linemen just line up their feet with the lineman next to them, and instead of going down into a 3 point stance (which would cause their head to break the snapper’s waistline plane) they stay upright to pass block. Therefore their feet are in the same place they have been, but since they are standing up, they are not on the line. You will also sometimes see guys who just don’t pay attention when they line up and even in their 3 point stance they are too far off of the line.

The foul is illegal formation and the penalty is 5 yards from the previous spot, replay the down.

This rule is the same at all levels of football.

That’s a longwinded explanation, but I hope it helps.

when i saw the title i thought we were going to have our very own mcm ref to officiate the collins/young debate that we all love so much

Seriously start giving out 15 yard penalties for un-blogger-like conduct whenever someone starts a KC v VY post.

Also this is great stuff, MCM’s own ref – awesome!