Was this referee pulling for New England to win?

If you watched the end of the Jets @ Patriots Thursday night game, you saw the Patriots block a 58-yard field goal attempt to hold on to the win 27-25.

If you looked looked closer, you will see the umpire moving a Patriots player from lining up over the snapper (which is a 5-yard penalty).

This is a great example of preventative officiating.  Play hasn't happened yet so no harm and the officials are doing their jobs to prevent a penalty situation and avoid a potential injury.

"Good call, ref!"

(Image Source: NJ.com)

You can read more about this from the link below:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/did-referee-help-new-england-patriots-avoid-penalty-on-blocked-field-goal-135517403.html

Applying this to Basketball

If an opportunity exists to display preventative officiating...take it!  It's better to try and prevent a foul/violation from happening than to stop the flow of the game calling that foul/violation.

Sometimes calling that foul or violation is unavoidable, but always practice good preventative officiating.  Some examples of this include:

• Telling offensive players in the lane to "move"/"keep moving"/"get out" to avoid 3-second violation
• Telling defensive players to have their "hands off"/"watch your hands" to avoid hand-checking
• Telling defensive players to back off the line and give the inbounding player room to inbound in order to avoid the warning and technical for reaching across the line