Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Tony Dungy commented on Twitter about false starts not being called
and the TV refs stated something about them not being
obvious or "too close to call" kind of thing...

This is new, at least in my memory.

In the past, any movement by Oline was a false start...
now, guys start kick step and it sure seems early to me
on far too many downs.

See it a few times a game, it seems, maybe not that many
but in last maybe 2-3 years tackles ae gettin away with
what used to be false starts

Ami I missing something?

Yeah, you see it at least a couple of times in every game now -- including that touchdown by the Giants the other day that I mentioned in another thread.

Bob Gill wrote:Yeah, you see it at least a couple of times in every game now -- including that touchdown by the Giants the other day that I mentioned in another thread.

I saw that play but missed your comment, but agree---I love Lane Johnson, but he takes advantage of this "non call" point of emphasis or whatever it is
as much or more than anyone.

Is it me or is this a recent thing? I don't recall it being this blatant a few years ago.

Have you guys noticed that the officials never measure for close first downs?
The coaches never demand a measurement and the officials seem to follow the tv lines--which are supposed to be unofficial-- as if they are law ? ... I blame the coaches for not demanding measurements ...

JohnTurney wrote:Is it me or is this a recent thing? I don't recall it being this blatant a few years ago.

I think it's recent, like in the last five years. I assume it's the result of a deliberate decision by the league, always ready to relax any rules that limit the offense. Same goes for the way they now ignore delay of game if they ball is snapped within a second or less of the play clock hitting zero. It's funny: The rationale in these cases seems to be "Oh, we don't want to get too technical," but this is the NFL, where they'll look at replays for several minutes trying to decide whether a back fumbled a microsecond before his knee touched the ground.

Bob Gill wrote:

JohnTurney wrote:Is it me or is this a recent thing? I don't recall it being this blatant a few years ago.

I think it's recent, like in the last five years. I assume it's the result of a deliberate decision by the league, always ready to relax any rules that limit the offense. Same goes for the way they now ignore delay of game if they ball is snapped within a second or less of the play clock hitting zero. It's funny: The rationale in these cases seems to be "Oh, we don't want to get too technical," but this is the NFL, where they'll look at replays for several minutes trying to decide whether a back fumbled a microsecond before his knee touched the ground.

Thats kind of my issue with it. I always thought of Lane Johnson as 'stretching the rules', but I think this postseason has been the most 'blatant' ever in terms of all OTs getting away with murder. I get that these teams are going up against good edge rushers, but the rules enforcement is just so inconsistent. The rules already allow the OL to line up in a V formation....letting the tackles false start in addition to this is pretty annoying. Bosa of the Chargers had this happen to him the entire second half...he got called for a penalty for arguing with the ref, which is kind of ridiculous when the ref knowingly does not throw the flag. Conversely, at a random time in the Seahawks-Niners game, Seattle was called for an 'illegal formation' because the ref said the LT was off the line of scrimmage. Really? That is the hill you are going to die on as a ref?

But its all kind of weird to me...in the 'olden days', teams would have to double team an edge rusher and figure out pass protection schemes. Teams now don't have to do this...just have your OTs retreat before the snap. Same thing with the delay of game nonsense. In the olden days, teams would have their QB call the play, or the coach would call the play and not sub in 10 different people. Now teams need the full play clock just to get set and they are given a grace period of 1-2 seconds. The game would actually be different if the rules were enforced.

Bryan wrote:....The rules already allow the OL to line up in a V formation....

This is the one that gets me...
With all the penalties they do call they don't flag this most obvious one.
The 7 men on the line of scrimmage are supposed to be within a yard of it.
It is obvious from the yard markings that they tackles often are not. But if an end is they flag him.

JuggernautJ wrote:

Bryan wrote:....The rules already allow the OL to line up in a V formation....

This is the one that gets me...
With all the penalties they do call they don't flag this most obvious one.
The 7 men on the line of scrimmage are supposed to be within a yard of it.
It is obvious from the yard markings that they tackles often are not. But if an end is they flag him.

That one also used to have guidelines, the helmet of the tackle had to line up with the belt of the center
not sure it was written "rule" but it was a "thing"

Brian wolf wrote:Have you guys noticed that the officials never measure for close first downs?
The coaches never demand a measurement and the officials seem to follow the tv lines--which are supposed to be unofficial-- as if they are law ? ... I blame the coaches for not demanding measurements ...

They have had RFID tags in the footballs since 2017. Makes you wonder if they are using them to determine first downs without talking about it.

RyanChristiansen wrote:

Brian wolf wrote:Have you guys noticed that the officials never measure for close first downs?
The coaches never demand a measurement and the officials seem to follow the tv lines--which are supposed to be unofficial-- as if they are law ? ... I blame the coaches for not demanding measurements ...

They have had RFID tags in the footballs since 2017. Makes you wonder if they are using them to determine first downs without talking about it.

Already you see the NCAA using chains that self-measure down-and-distance. At least that's what I see at Golden Gophers games. The guy with the line of scrimmage marker plants his flag and presses a button and the distance to the first down marker updates automatically.