1. Lesson 2 – Specific Rules All Officials Need to Know and Understand
New Officials
Lesson 2 – Specific Rules All Officials Need to Know and Understand

2. Rules Everyone Needs to Know
In truth, to be a good football official, everyone needs a pretty complete knowledge of the rules and how to apply them, regardless of what position in the crew he holds. Still, there are a few rules that simply everyone on the crew MUST understand at risk of really screwing the game up otherwise.
These are those rules. We’ll cover them here in some detail rather than expect you to merely read and understand them on your own:
2-13 – all articles – and 9-6-2
8-5-2-a – exception – and 9-9
4-2 – all articles – and a

3. Rule 2-13 – all articles – 1 of 5
This rule defines the term “Force” in quite a bit of detail.
If you thought “force” in football would be the same thing as you may have learned in high school physics, “an influence on a body or system, producing or tending to produce a change in movement or in shape or other effects,” you’ve got another think coming!
In football “force” does mean that some energy has been applied to the ball. But if you try to use the example of “force” from physics, you’ll often get the wrong answer. The point here is that when it comes to football, you have an entirely different use of the word, force; and that definition will ONLY be found in Rule 2-13 – not in any dictionary you’ve ever seen.

4. Rule 2-13 – all articles – 2 of 5
“Force is the result of energy exerted by a player which provides movement to the ball. The term force is used only in connection with the goal line and only in one direction, i.e., from the field of play into the end zone. Initial force results from a carry, fumble, kick, pass or snap. After a fumble, kick or backward pass has been grounded, a new force may result from a bat, an illegal kick or a muff.”
“Responsibility for forcing the ball from the field of play across a goal line is attributed to the player who carries, snaps, passes, fumbles or kicks the ball, unless a new force is applied to either a backward pass , kick or fumble that has been grounded.”

5. Rule 2-13 – all articles – 3 of 5
“The muffing or batting of a pass, kick or fumble in flight is not considered a new force.”
“Force is not a factor: a. On kicks going into R’s end zone, since these kicks are always a touchback regardless of who supplied the force. b. When a backward pass or fumble is declared dead in the end zone of the opponent of the player who passed or fumbled, with no player possession.”

6. Rule 2-13 – all articles – 4 of 5
So what does this all mean? Here are a few important points to remember:
On a kick (for example, a punt which the Line Judge will be covering in a 4-Man crew), as long as the “kick” portion of the play is continuing, ANY movement of the ball across R’s goal line is a TOUCHBACK. It doesn’t matter if a new force was applied. By the statement in a this is the case regardless of anything else done to the ball by anyone other than the person who kicked the ball.
Until the ball has been grounded, there is NO chance for anyone to provide a NEW force to the ball.

7. Rule 2-13 – all articles – 5 of 5
Force as it applies to football is an extremely narrow term. It ONLY applies to the movement of a ball from the field of play into an end zone. ANY other use of the word, force, in the game of football is incorrect (for example, no one can “force” a ball out-of-bounds).
Where the rubber meets the road most often is with the poor old (but generally not-so-old) Line Judge who is responsible for covering receivers on punts. The Line Judge MUST understand what “force” means in football and be able to apply that knowledge at the goal line in a consistent manner.
Here is where we’ll any questions you have about “force.”

8. Rule 8-5-2-a – exception – 1 of 2
This rule is a “companion” to what we just learned about rule The “exception” of which we speak here is called the “Momentum exception.”
Here is exact wording of the “Momentum exception”: a – “EXCEPTION: When a defensive player intercepts an opponent’s forward pass; intercepts or recovers an opponent’s fumble or backward pass; or an R player catches or recovers a scrimmage kick or free kick between his 5-yard line and the goal line, and his original momentum carries him into the end zone where the ball is declared dead in his team’s possession or it goes out of bounds in the end zone, the ball belongs to the team in possession at the spot where the pass or fumble was intercepted or recovered or the kick was caught or recovered.”

9. Rule 8-5-2-a – exception – 2 of 2
So what does this mean?
A defender can gain possession of a ball as stated and cause it to be dead in his own end zone but NOT be charged a Safety for having done so.
To get this exception, he must gain possession inside his 5-yard line and before the goal line AND his momentum (NOT the ball’s ) must “carry him” into the end zone AND the ball must be dead there (or out-of-bounds beyond the goal line).
It does NOT matter if he tries to come back out of the end zone, but fails; only his original momentum is the issue.
The covering official must JUDGE whether it was the player’s momentum that carried him into the end zone.

10. Rule 4-2 – all articles – 1 of 2
Rule 4-2 concerns itself with all the conditions under which a live ball may become dead or remain dead. It also details two conditions where the ball may remain alive when it would otherwise be dead as well as when a slightly different condition occurs and the ball becomes dead, instead.
There are 11 “primary” ways the ball may become dead or remain dead. With all the variations on these basic 11 ways, there are some 26 total ways the ball may become dead or remain dead.
Of these 26, only one is “bad” from an official’s point of view. That way is found in Rule j – by an inadvertent whistle. All the other 25 ways are just fine as far as we’re concerned.

11. Rule 4-2 – all articles – 2 of 2
Officials must be certain to see the ball on ALL plays before “blowing the play dead.” If somehow or another an inadvertent whistle is sounded, Rule covers in detail how the play that was in progress will be administered.
Some, but not all, of the more obscure ways that the ball may become dead, but that everyone must know are:
When the helmet comes completely off of the runner.
During a kick try, as soon as we know the try will fail.
When a loose ball is simultaneously possessed by opposing players.
When the kickers catch or recover a free kick anywhere or a scrimmage kick beyond the neutral zone.

12. Rules and – 1 of 3
These rules define when it is Illegal Participation for a player who was inbounds at the start of the play to go out-of-bounds and return during the play. We will most often see this kind of situation during a kick or perhaps a pass near the sideline.
About all you need to do is memorize the rules. Let’s look at them in reverse order says, “During the down, no player shall intentionally go out of bounds and return.” This means that no player of either team may go out-of-bounds and return if his movement out-of-bounds was judged to be because he intended to go out-of-bounds. Suppose a B player goes out-of-bounds to avoid a block by an A player but no contact by A on B is made? You have to understand that a block requires contact. So what have we here?

13. Rules and – 2 of 3
9-6-1 is more complicated and says, “Prior to a change of possession, or when there is no change of possession, no player of A or K shall go out of bounds and return to the field during the down unless blocked out of bounds by an opponent. If a player is blocked out of bounds by an opponent and returns to the field during the down, he shall return at the first opportunity.”
This gives A or K players one chance to be legally out-of-bounds and return to the field during the play. That is if they are blocked out-of-bounds. Remember that a block requires contact; if A sidesteps a block (no contact) and steps out-of-bounds he may not thereafter legally participate in the down.

14. Rules and – 3 of 3
Why is this a rule that “all” must know? The point is that there are many cases where plays happen near the sideline, especially near the goal line where an advantage is gained by illegally going out-of-bounds and returning. The officials must be aware of this as these situations tend to occur during loose ball plays, and these plays tend to be “big plays,” too. Letting a big play continue without recognizing an important 15-yard penalty, is a pretty sure way of messing a game up badly.

15. Rules and 9-9
These rules are somewhat similar. In the case of 1-1-6, “The referee has the authority to rule promptly, and in the spirit of good sportsmanship, on any situation not specifically covered by the rules. The referee’s decisions are final in all matters pertaining to the game.” For example, the Referee might decide to replay a down if the field lights all went out while a punt was in the air (after the lights were turned back on!).
9-9 specifies penalties for “unfair acts.” Some of these are defined. But any unfair act not specifically defined allows the Referee to impose whatever penalty he deems “equitable, including the awarding of a score.” Suppose a visiting runner stopped one yard short of a TD because a fan blew a whistle. That is clearly unfair. The Referee could award the TD.

16. Rules and a – 1 of 2
These rules work hand in hand to determine whether there is a touchdown or a ball out-of-bounds on plays that happen near the pylon at the intersection of the goal line and sideline.
states, “The goal line is the vertical plane that separates the field of play from the end zone. When related to a live ball in the runner’s possession(touching inbounds) while the ball is over the out-of-bounds area the goal line includes the extension beyond the sideline. A team’s own goal is the one it is defending.”
8-2-1-a states, “It is a touchdown when a runner advances from the field of play so that the ball penetrates the vertical plane of the opponent’s goal line.”

17. Rules and a – 2 of 2
This means that if a runner is touching inbounds at the time he passes the ball across the goal line extended that he has scored a touchdown. But if he is airborne when the ball breaks the plane of the goal line extended (the ball is outside the sideline), this is NOT a touchdown. Instead the ball will be ruled out-of-bounds at the point that it crossed the sideline.
The implication for the covering official is that he must be in position to view the action at the pylon and determine whether the goal line was penetrated by the ball (doesn’t matter whether the runner was airborne) or the goal line extended, only. In the latter case, it is only a TD if the runner was only touching inbounds at the time the goal line extended was penetrated.

18. Review / Summary
All officials need to understand the rules of the game.
There are several rules that even the most junior officials need to understand well since they are likely to have to make calls that involve these rules.
We have discussed a group of such rules here.
These are NOT the only rules the New Official needs to understand. But they are the rules that as a group are among the most likely to cause him difficulty during a game if he doesn’t understand them.