After learning about the officials last week, it’s time to learn about the penalties and violations. A penalty is an infraction of the rules. Without rules, football games would look like this election season. Just kidding. But really, it would be a mess. There are over 100 kinds of penalties or rule violations. Officials use hand signals to indicate there is a penalty, because yelling, “Hey! You can’t do that!” doesn’t go very far in the game. If we went through all of the signals fast enough, it would just look like my mom trying to dance after one too many margaritas… But that’s beside the point. So we will discuss some of the more common penalties and their gestures.
Â
Holding: The referee signals a holding penalty by grabbing one wrist with the clenched fist of his other hand and pulling his arm down in front of his chest.
Incomplete Pass: The referee shifts his arms in a horizontal fashion in front of his body to signal that the pass is incomplete, a penalty is declined, a play is over, or a field goal/extra point attempt is no good.
Pass Interference: The referee, with open hands vertical to the ground, extends his arms forward from his shoulder to signify pass interference.
First Down: When the offensive team gains enough yardage for a first down, the referee points with his right arm at shoulder length toward the defensive team’s goal. If you go to UW, this is when you usually hear some members of the crowd yell, “First down, Mother-Trucker!” Except, they don’t actually say “Trucker”…
Facemask: The referee gestures with his hand in front of his face and makes a downward pulling motion to signal that a player illegally grabbed the facemask of another player.
Time-out: The referee signals a time-out by waving his arms and hands above his head. If the referee makes this motion, then grabs the top on his head, it means it is an official time-out, or a referee-called time-out.
Clipping: The referee uses both hands to strike the front of his thigh to signal that a player made an illegal cut block. When he uses one hand to strike the back of his calf, preceded by the personal foul signal, he means an illegal clipping penalty occurred. It kind of looks like he’s pooping to me, but hey. To each their own. Â
Touchdown: The referee extends his arms straight above his head to show that a touchdown was scored. This signal is also used to signal a successful field goal, extra point, or two-point conversion. At this time it is acceptable to cheer for your time, or yell dirty words that scare the neighbors if it’s for the other team.
Personal Foul: The referee raises his arm above his head and strikes his wrist with the edge of his other hand to signal a personal foul. If he pretends to grab an imaginary facemask (above) after this motion, it signals a face mask penalty, worth 15 yards.
Illegal Motion: The referee flattens out his hand and makes a horizontal arc with it to show that the offensive team made an illegal motion at the snap or prior to the snap of the ball.
If worse comes to worse, it’s okay to be the last referee in this picture and have no idea what it going on. It’s not like you’re the one getting paid to officiate the game.
Player of the Week:
This week’s player of the week is Antonio Brown. Antonio is a wide receiver and punt returner for the Pittsburgh Steelers. This Florida native played college ball at Central Michigan University where he earned All American honors in 2008 and 2009. In the 2010 draft he was selected 195th overall. He picked his jersey number, 84, because of it stating, “Eight time four is 32.Thirty-two teams looked past me, even the Steelers. So every time I go out there it’s a little added motivation.” Brown also competed in season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He was eliminated during the semifinals and finished 5th overall in the competition. I tried to pick just one photo of him, but with a body like that it was hard to pick just one.