Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
It's similar to what folks say about holding calls.
"Keep your hands inside the pads and it's not a penalty..."
The **** it isn't - a hold is a hold. But it's considered an acceptable hold if you're inside their pads.
It kinda gets back to the fact that this game just moves too fast for some of these calls. So officials, rather than get it right, look for certain keys. If an O-Lineman has his hands outside the pads and turns a defenders shoulders, they're probably gonna throw a flag. If a defender makes contact with a receiver and didn't turn his head, they're probably gonna throw a flag. If a WR fully extends his arms before separation to make a catch, that's probably gonna be an OPI (but not if he just gives a quick chuck that could create even more separation). If a DB gets his hands above a WRs waist when he's running alongside him, look for illegal contact, even though below the waist can be just as disruptive, it won't be called.
And there's more if you think about it. If a WR's head snaps forward on contact, that's gonna be an unnecessary roughness even if there was no contact to the head. These refs use shorthands and proxies to make up for the fact that they can't actually see what's happening in real time.
It's irritating as hell. Those shorthands are right far more often than they're wrong, but that doesn't mean they aren't wrong often enough to meaningfully impact outcomes.
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It's just hard as shit to do man. I've watched and listened to dad talk about it for my whole life, this is his 46th year being a white hat on a high school football crew. It's easier at that level obviously, but still, there's so many gray areas.