Referees at Super Bowl 49 will adopt a new hand signal to indicate eligible and ineligible receivers, according to Seattle Seahawks' coach Pete Carroll, via Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times. Carroll said the referees will point at ineligible receivers and make a missed field goal sign, according to Condotta, and that they will point two hands at eligible players, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.
Super Bowl 2015: League to use new hand signals for eligible, ineligible receivers
The league is responding to the eligible/ineligible receiver controversy from the Patriots’ past two games by instituting new hand signals for the Super Bowl.
Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Carroll pointed out that the league has never done something like this before. It's clear they want as little controversy surrounding this Super Bowl as possible, and they want to avoid the questions that came out following the New England Patriots' wins over the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts thus far in the postseason.
While those games sparked some serious controversy over eligible and ineligible receivers, the Patriots didn’t actually do anything wrong, per the NFL rulebook. There was definite trickery at play, but running the plays they did was not against the rules, as we noted in this extensive article on what exactly they did and why exactly the Ravens and Colts were confused.
There were two plays in particular that sparked the most controversy. Against the Colts, Nate Solder, an offensive lineman, scored a touchdown after being in for a pair of plays. He reported as eligible for the first play, and the referee announced that and made the Colts aware of it. Another Patriots' offensive lineman, Cameron Fleming, had been reporting as eligible for much of the game to that point.
Solder wound up not trying to catch a pass on the first play he was out there, as Brandon LaFell was lined up outside of him and on the line of scrimmage, making him ineligible. On the next play, as Solder stayed out there, LaFell lined up in the same spot, but slightly back of the line, making Solder eligible. That's the play Solder scored a touchdown on.
The ineligible receivers rule comes from both games and generally stems from having only four offensive linemen, with one of the receivers or tight ends on the line being ineligible.
It’s unclear if these new hand signals will go into the official rulebook going forward, but they’re definitely a new wrinkle for this year’s Super Bowl, and they’re unquestionably a result of the plays mentioned above. It’s unclear if the Seahawks demanded the league make these changes, but Carroll is of the opinion that the referees made a mistake when it comes to the Solder touchdown, according to Erik Scalavino of the Patriots’ team website.
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