Illegal procedure

In the National Football League, an illegal procedure is used to refer to a number of different penalties.

Types of illegal procedure

Some penalties are signalled with a generic "illegal procedure" signal.[1] Examples are:

  • False start
  • Illegal formation
  • Kickoff or safety kick out of bounds
  • Player voluntarily going out of bounds and returning to the field of play on a punt

Some examples of similar penalties have their own signals. Examples include:

  • Illegal shift
  • Illegal motion
  • Illegal forward pass
  • Illegal touching of a forward pass
  • Ineligible receiver downfield
  • Illegal substitution

Usage at different levels

It is used similarly to the professional level at the high school level,[2] but this term is not referenced at all in the collegiate rule book.[3]

References

  1. ^ "NFL Official Signals". NFL.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-13. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  2. ^ "Official Football Signals: High School and College" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Federation of State High School Associations.
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-01-21. Retrieved 2010-12-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)