• Welcome to Fearless Friday Bulletin Boards. Please login or sign up.

 FF is powered by:        Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Chains

Started by Oldbadger, November 19, 2016, 06:02:56 pm

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Oldbadger

At the Benton/Jonesboro game last night it seemed the officials almost didn't care if the chains were set prior to the ball being snapped. On at least one occasion the ball was snapped prior to the down marker or the chains being set after a first down.  Both teams are HUNH teams so they both benefited but what is the rule or rule of thumb regarding this?

PTreferee

I worked with one white hat that would only require the box to be set. Then he would blow the ready for play. Most referees I have worked with recently try to maintain a 12-15 second average between the end of the play and the ready for play whistle. This allows the officials to be in charge of setting the pace, not the teams.

arreferee

Quote from: Oldbadger on November 19, 2016, 06:02:56 pm
At the Benton/Jonesboro game last night it seemed the officials almost didn't care if the chains were set prior to the ball being snapped. On at least one occasion the ball was snapped prior to the down marker or the chains being set after a first down.  Both teams are HUNH teams so they both benefited but what is the rule or rule of thumb regarding this?

If the box is set and the chains are fairly close, I would say it's ok to go ahead and blow the play ready.  If the referee is keeping a good, consistent pace (12-15 seconds between the play being dead and blowing the ready for the next play), the chains shouldn't have a problem keeping up.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of old chain crews that don't move very well.  These are the situations where the ready could be blown before the chains are set but the down box is. 

When I was still working high school, there were times when I knew the chain crew wouldn't be able to keep up.  I asked who was on the box.  If it wasn't a guy I thought would be able to keep up, I would ask them to switch around.  They were usually accommodating.  If they weren't and we had an issue, I would suggest it again...as the old guy was huffing and puffing because he couldn't keep up.  :)

Fox 16 Arkansas Fox 24 Arkansas