[Richard Tanner]

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Billick accused them of illegally simulating snap counts to draw the offense offsides.

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Can someone help out a casual football fan here? What does simulating a snap count mean?

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Its defensive players yelling "hut" or something like it in an attempt to make offensive players think the QB is yelling it, which would then lead them to false start.


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These seems bush league, but I'm surprised there's a rule against it. Why can't the offense be responsible for looking to see if the ball is actually snapped instead of jumping at the first "hut" they hear? I'm sure that a few judisciously applied cut blocks on defenders that try this stuff might work.

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Two things. First, the rule, and it's certainly a good one, is in place because without it, the whole game suffers. The QB must be allowed to call out the cadance or the level of play drops off significantly. Crowd noise is fine, it's a part of the game, but the D trying to trick the offensive linemen, most of whom can't see the ball clearly, isn't fair.

Secondly, and this is a bit nitty as you said you were a casual fan, but you're confusing "cut" blocks with "chop" blocks.
Cut blocks are legal. A cut block is when the blocker engages a defender below the waist, and is most often used by a RB to stop a blitzing LB or CB.
A chop block is illegal and occurs when an offensive player hits a player below the waist when that player is already being blocked by someone else. It's illegal obviously because of how dangerous it is to hit someone in the knees when their attention is correctly focused elsewhere.

Cody