Crew Communication and When in Question

The signals a crew gives each other are not the signals it gives the press box. They are in a different chart, they are much shorter, and most officials learn them by watching rather than by reading. This is the reading.

For the forty-seven signals you give the press box, see Official Signals and All Signals, Listed and Diagrammed.

These are not drawn. Our stick figures cover S1–S47, which is the signal chart in the rules book; the crew signals are not on that chart and have never been proofed here. The motions are described in words instead, and the manual's own chart on pages 46 and 47 is the authority.

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1. The crew signals

The mechanics manual has eight approved crew signals. Associations have added more over the years; before you adopt one, get it approved by your state association or conference coordinator. What follows separates what the manual calls approved from what it calls a suggestion, because the difference matters the first time somebody argues about it.

Approved

Signal	Motion	Meaning
11 players	Fist extended straight out, elbow not bent, thumb on top of the fist.	I have eleven.
Don't start the clock	Wrists crossed at waist level.	The clock starts on the snap.
Start clock on the ready	Index finger rotated.	The clock starts on the ready-for-play.
Double sticks	Arms crossed in front of the chest.	Team A needs more than ten yards — don't stop the clock when the runner passes only the back stake.
Unbalanced line	One hand to the cheek.	Count again before you decide who is eligible.
Receiver off the line	Arm fully extended into the offensive backfield, palm facing the field.	The receiver nearest me is in the backfield. Wings use it before the snap to set each other's keys.
Backward pass	The same signal.	That pass went backward.
Snapper protection applies	Rolling fists. Not one of the eight approved signals — §1.10 lists it among the unofficial signals in common use.	Scrimmage-kick formation — the snapper has protection. On fourth down it is also a reminder that the clock stops at the end of the down however it ends.

Not formal — but in common use

Signal	Motion	Meaning
Fewer than 11	One suggestion: fingers of both hands splayed across the chest.	The manual gives no formal signal for this.
More than 11	Confirm with a partner first — Line Judge with Back Judge, Referee with Umpire — then ask for a recount with a finger-winding motion in front of the chest. Careful: that motion also means "start the clock on the ready".	Twelve confirmed before the snap is a dead-ball illegal substitution; after the snap it is a live-ball foul. Rule it dead-ball whenever you can.
"Five will get you one"	Head Line Judge makes eye contact with the Referee and puts a flat palm against his chest.	The down box is beyond the tape at the chain's halfway point, so a 5-yard foul on Team B produces a first down. The Referee then already knows a new series is coming if the defence encroaches.

The five-second visible count

Used by the Referee in a crew of four and the Back Judge in crews of five and seven, for the last five seconds when no on-field 40/25 play clock is being used.

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2. Talking on the radio

If your crew has wireless units — §1.10.

They are not a substitute for the physical signals. Overuse defeats the purpose. The equipment, channel plan and exact words the crew uses are on Crew Radios.

How. Push-to-talk models are preferred; they keep the ambient noise out. Press the button, pause, then speak — starting before the button garbles the message. The problem is never one person talking too little.

Worth saying: player counts, and whether a replaced player got off the field before the snap. Foul information across the field — number, enforcement, clock status, the explanation for the coach. Numbers of linemen using the numbering exception. Ball inbounds or out of bounds. "Five will get you a first down." A wrong down on the box. Time-outs remaining. The Back Judge moving to the end line.

Silent:

• During the coin toss, at the start of the game and in overtime.
• While the Referee and another official are talking to a coach.
• While other officials are talking to each other.
• While the Referee is announcing a foul on the stadium microphone.
• During live-ball play.
• When multiple flags are down. Come together and discuss it in person, then report to the Referee as normal.

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3. The halo principle

§1.7 — how coverage areas are actually divided.

When a player has the ball — or the ball is loose, a rolling punt or a fumble — the circle around it and the players in it is the main halo. There is no fixed size; use 2 to 5 yards as an average. The official nearest the main halo has the players inside it. Everyone else has the secondary halos around the players in their own area.

The halos move, and the moment they move is the turning point. On a handoff, the quarterback, the back and anyone else in the vicinity are in the main halo, and it is the Referee's. Once the play crosses the neutral zone, the Referee should no longer be watching the ballcarrier at all — he has the quarterback, those other Team A players and any Team B player who broke through. The main halo becomes the appropriate wing's, or the Umpire's if the run is up the middle. The wing takes the secondary halo in front of the runner, fifteen or twenty yards ahead, where he can see very wide because all the action is in front of him. In a crew of five the Back Judge must be ready to sweep past the sideline, and to follow the runner out of bounds.

On a punt the Umpire ends up inside the secondary halo in front of the receiver, watching the players trying to make the tackle and the ones blocking them. And if the Referee is also watching the ball fly downfield, nobody is watching the punter — who is often standing still admiring it, and is not thereby entitled to a free shot from an opponent.

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4. Digging out a fumble

§1.8 — four or more players in the pile.

Beanbag first	Whoever saw the fumble drops one at the yard line where it happened. That spot decides enforcement if a foul occurs while the ball is loose, or if the ball goes out of bounds beyond it.
The digger	The official closest to the pile. He unpiles it and determines who recovered.
Next nearest	Manages player conduct in the pile.
Others near it	Watch the action in and around the pile.
Farthest away	Signals the clock to stop, and confirms that it stopped. The others echo.

How to dig. Start at the top: tap those players and say "you're out" or "you don't have it, get up." Watch your face near the helmets. Get on the ground — the ball is down there, so you should be too. If they are slow to unpile, another official may come and help; everyone else officiates the dead ball.

The best trick is to grab the arm of the player who clearly has it and say "I've got the ball — everyone off the pile." That awards possession correctly and clears the pile at the same time. Then tell the Referee verbally: Team A recovered means he announces the down and restarts the clock (or signals the first down); Team B recovered means the Referee alone signals the change. Once it has cleared, point out the recovering player for the statisticians.

Four or fewer players, between two officials: usually no digger at all. Make eye contact and say what you saw — "I've got red ball." "So do I." Agree, and both give the proper signals. Disagree, and one of you digs.

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5. The umpire's two down indicators

§1.9 — previous spot means previous spot.

Previous-spot enforcement is not only the yard line the ball was last snapped from. It is the lateral position too. If Team A snaps from a hash and the play ends near the far hash, an accepted previous-spot penalty goes back to that same hash on that same yard line — not to the middle of the field.

So umpires wear two down indicators: one for the down, one for where the last snap was.

Finger	Where the last snap was
Little finger	Left hash
Ring finger	Left upright
Middle finger	Middle of the field
Index finger	Right upright
Thumb	Right hash

Related, from the same section: a punt out of bounds across a sideline gives Team R no choice — the next snap is from the nearest hash, exactly as if a runner had carried it out. A team may choose the spot anywhere between the hashes before the ready for a try, a kickoff, after a fair catch or awarded fair catch, after a safety or touchback, and to start each overtime series — and may choose again if the down is replayed or a dead-ball foul occurs. A free kick out of bounds may be placed 25 yards from the previous spot or 5 yards from the out-of-bounds spot, but still on the nearest hash.

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6. When in question

§1.11 — the tiebreakers, exactly as the manual prints them.

In question	Rule it
Accidental or intentional — contact, touching, kicking	Accidental
Catch, fumble, or incomplete	Incomplete
Forward or backward pass	Forward
5- or 15-yard face mask	15
Kick or pass touched or not	Not touched
5- or 15-yard kicker / holder	15
Catch or no catch	No catch
Forward pass crossed the neutral zone or not	It crossed
Forward pass or fumble	Forward pass
Passer in or out of the free-blocking zone	Outside
Touchback or safety	Touchback
Defenceless player or not	Defenceless
Fumble or down by rule	Down by rule