The umpire becomes the masked man when he calls pass interference - it is rare when an umpire can see the entire interaction between a receiver and defender.

He may be the only official who can see a ball was trapped and not caught. His proximity to the play can also be a factor in discerning whether a seemingly caught ball moves when it touches the ground in the hands of the receiver. On short passes, the umpire must swivel and watch the flight of the ball. However, ruling on a catch often requires as much teamwork as determining forward progress.

Some teams don’t pass very often and some catches can, in fact, be easily called by one official. In the rare cases when those two events occur in an unclear sequence, the officials must confer to get the call right. If the ball does get across the goalline, the back judge must hesitate and get assurance from his partner that the runner did not step out of bounds. If the ball never makes it into the end zone, the call belongs to the wing official he alone is responsible for the progress spot. The back judge is responsible for the goalline and the wing official must rule if the runner touched the sideline before the ball broke the plane of the goalline. They cannot be called correctly by a lone official. Runs along the sideline on snaps from outside team B’s 10 yardline require teamwork between the back judge and the appropriate wing official. However, umpires who frequently insist on spotting the ball themselves without looking at their partners on the wings are a good example of the Lone Ranger.

His partner on the opposite sideline should be able to help him. On rare occasions, the umpire may have the only view of the deadball spot. The nearest wing official may not have the best view of the ball in fact, he may not have any view. Running plays that end in a cluster of players pose a challenge for officials. Of course, there are easy progress calls such as an unhindered runner crossing the goalline or a quarterback sack in team A’s end zone, but most plays require a clear view of the ball and an understanding of when a runner is down by rule. This Lone Ranger isn’t a ‘Good Guy.’ Forward Progressĭetermining the correct progress spot is perhaps the greatest indicator of a crew’s excellence. It is a skill needed on just about every play. His alter ego sometimes appears on the football field, not to fight any injustice, but to prove that he can call a game alone without the aid of crewmates. He is a masked ex-Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. Even if you are too young to have watched the TV show, you should be familiar with the Lone Ranger, a fictional character that has become an enduring icon of American culture.

The lone ranger tv show