I’ve watched quite a bit of video in the past 2 weeks and have noticed some officials are not signaling “stop the clock” when required. All five officials should signal “stop the clock,” not just one or two.
Here are a few “stop the clock” moments to anticipate:
After the ball is dead/remains dead following…
- a free kick
- a fourth down play (we show each other the “false start” signal before the snap to remind ourselves to stop the clock when the play ends)
- the end of a play after any official throws a flag (if you see your partner(s) throw a flag and the ball is dead, give the stop-the-clock signal)
- when the ball goes out of bounds
- a flag for a dead ball foul
- any time out (official’s or coach’s)
- when we observe another official signaling to stop the clock
Keep using proper signals during a running clock
On our crew, we continue to use the required signals after we begin a running clock. It helps to stay focused and we also may have Hudl observers who might not understand the game context and downgrade us for not giving the required signals.