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. 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 both the high school level, and at the college level.
References
- "NFL Official Signals". NFL.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-13. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
- "Official Football Signals: High School and College" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Federation of State High School Associations.