When a punt goes out of bounds, and a ref goes running up the sideline to where he wants us to think the punt went out, how does he know? If it's a night game, is he navigating by the stars or what? I try to imagine being down there where that ref is when the punt goes out of bounds, and I have to think there's no way he knows what yard line the ball went out. IMO the ball should be spotted at the yard line exactly where the punt hits the ground out of bounds, not where the ref decides to stop when he goes running up the sideline.
Geometry is your friend here. The back judge assumes a straight line from where the ball left the punters foot to where it landed. The ref walking the sideline with his arm raised, walks forward until he intersects that line.
What gets me is the ball always goes out exactly on a yard line. Never between. Damn,,,, punters are good aimers.
Of course there's a straight line from where the ball left the punter's foot to where it landed. But how does the ref know where that invisible line is? He would have to be standing right where that line goes over the sideline, that is, where the ball goes right over his head, but he's yards away from it. And geometry was never my friend.
The ref standing where the ball left the punters foot determines when the ref on the sideline intersects the line from the punter to where the ball landed.
Same question. How can either ref know just where that invisible line is without standing right underneath it when the ball goes out?
It's angles, sightlines, good judgement and a lot of practice. Ever used a plumb line? The ref holding his arm up running to intersect becomes the bottom of the vertical line (the plumb bob) and he is where the ball crosses the line. It's geometry, that's just how it works.
Ref behind the punter is the line used (he moves to the punter after the punt). Mark where the ball landed and run to that spot and look at that ref and that is where it went out of bounds.
That makes sense, if there's always a ref behind the punter, and the ref running up the sideline is looking at that ref. But I wonder if they always do that. I mean, they don't know beforehand that the punt is going to go out of bounds. I would have to be that the game to see where the ref is, I don't think you can tell on TV, which just follows the ball.
Do you really think it should just be where it lands out of bounds though? I mean if punters didn’t have to keep the ball in the middle of the field while punting the punters would all kick it out of bounds and without the burden of aiming, it would be zinger after zinger even with the side yardage.
No punter wants to kick out of bounds instead of a straight line because it would ruin his punt average. He could lose his NIL deal plus his girlfriend, miss out on the draft, and eventually wind up flipping burgers at MacDonald's.
“It’s an interesting process, and one that isn’t widely known. A lot of people think it’s the official on the sideline who makes that determination, but it’s actually the referee, who is standing back near the punter and often the farthest official from the football. It’s a little like standing at the tee box, trying to keep your eyes fixed on the precise spot your golf ball sailed into the trees. Basically, it’s geometry. The referee goes to or near the spot where the ball was punted and watches its flight, drawing an imaginary plumb line between that point and where the ball intersects the sideline.” the rest: https://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-ask-farmer-20181215-story.html
Thanks for the link. Makes sense. On TV you only see the ref running up the sideline like he's trying to decide what would be a good place to stop.
I've been wondering what would happen if we got rid of motion penalties. Would the game fall apart if offensive linemen didn't have to be statues?
