I saw an item in last week’s piece where I was referring to the game clock continuing to run even if a player goes out of bounds when there’s more than two minutes left in either half.

The clock WILL stop anytime it is carried out of bounds but it will start on a winding-the-clock signal by the Referee when it is placed for the next snap. If it’s inside of two minutes left in each half, then the game clock will not start until the next snap like it used to be. My bad.

The procedures for that one caused a change in how the Referee signals the clock to start. They (the powers that be) figured out we needed to blow our whistle along with signaling the clock to start. It’s not a ready-for-play signal – just start the clock – because the play clock is already counting down from 40 so it’s technically “ready for play.”

With the advent of the 40-second play clock some other things came up. For instance, say we have a long pass down field and the ball boys are asleep or lost and it takes longer than usual to get a ball back for the next snap.

If the play clock has run down to 20 seconds and the ball is not ready to go, then we have to stop all the clocks, signal the play clock to reset to 25 and then signal ready-for-play and wind the game clock like old times (provided the game clock was running before all of this).

Speaking of signals, we also have a new one the Referee uses to signal the Umpire to step over the ball to prevent the center from snapping the ball. This would happen when the defense is reacting to an offense’s quick substitution and this provision was added a few years ago.

Now, the Referee will extend both arms straight out sideways looking at the Umpire who is just behind the linebackers who will then go stand over the ball until the Referee is satisfied the defense has had a fair amount of time to make any changes.

If you ask me, sometimes all this extra “fairness” smells like an infiltration of too much political correctness. Or maybe like a remark one of my baseball-playing sons made at a game several years ago when they saw most of the players on the other team had facemasks on their batting helmets. He just shook his head and said, “Too many Mamas.”

We have another new wording of the rule regarding a dangerous “chop block.”

This is when one offensive lineman blocks on a defensive lineman and while that is going on, a second offensive lineman will block the same defender but lower at his knees.

This is a very dangerous block that can wreck a career with a serious knee injury.

There is nothing wrong with double-team blocks as long they are both above the thigh of the defender, which is the boundary described in the rule book. The change was to make the restrictions on this block easier to call by basically making any “high – low” block illegal.

They used to be okay at certain times if there was no delay between the offensive linemen making contact. So much goes on in the line on the initial charges it’s a wonder more are not hurt. Ever notice how all offensive and defensive linemen wear those heavy knee braces? These guys are so developed and so big which is a good thing. The problem comes in the joints that are limited in size and structural integrity.