Football Gameplay & Penalties Series: Downs; Scoring; Officials; Penalties

Being a professional referee is one of the hardest jobs in football. Standing in the middle of the pitch keeping control of multi-millionaire sportsmen and getting the important decisions right is increasingly important. Referees get abuse from fans, players and coaches makes it a unenviable task. Television cameras now allow pundits and newspaper pundits to dissect and criticize every decision a referee makes. Referees have a very important role to play and it takes a very special type of person to do it. They have to make important decisions instantly even if it means upsetting thousands of fans.

The game is officiated by a crew of three to seven officials. Every crew will consist of a referee, who is generally in charge of the game and watches action on the quarterback and in the offensive backfield; an umpire, who handles spotting the ball and watches action on the offensive line; and a head linesman, who supervises placement of the down box and line-to-gain chains. The crew may also consist of a line judge, back judge, field judge and side judge, in the order listed: i.e. a crew of five officials has a referee, umpire, head linesman, line judge and back judge.

Common NFL Official Signals

Confused about the signal the ref give at the games? Find out by following these links that show pictures of common NFL signals.

1. Touchdown, Field Goal, or Successful Try
2. Safety
3. First Down
4. Crowd Noise, Dead Ball, or Neutral Zone Established
5. Ball Illegally Touched, Kicked, or Batted
6. Time Out
7. No Time Out or Time In With Whistle
8. Delay of Game or Excess Time Out
9. False Start, Illegal Formation, or Kickoff or Safety Kick Out of Bounds or Kicking Team Player Voluntarily Out of Bounds During a Punt
10. Personal Foul
11. Holding
12. Illegal Use of Hands, Arms, or Body
13. Penalty Refused, Incomplete Pass, Play Over, or Missed Field Goal or Extra Point
14. Pass Juggled Inbounds and Caught Out of Bounds
15. Illegal Forward Pass
16. Intentional Grounding of Pass
17. Interference With Forward Pass or Fair Catch
18. Invalid Fair-Catch Signal
19. Ineligible Receiver or Ineligible Member of Kicking Team Downfield
20. Illegal Contact
21. Offside, Encroachment, or Neutral Zone Infraction
22. Illegal Motion at Snap
23. Loss of Down
24. Interlocking Interference, Pushing, or Helping Runner
25. Touching a Forward Pass or Scrimmage Kick
26. Unsportsmanlike Conduct
27. Illegal Cut
28. Illegal Crackback
29. Player Disqualified
30. Tripping
31. Uncatchable Forward Pass
32. Twelve Men in Offensive Huddle or Too Many Men on the Field
33. Facemask
34. Illegal Shift
35. Reset Play Clock–25 Seconds
36. Reset Play Clock–40 Seconds

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