Do you have to call TO at the exact time, or...

[El Simbolo]

...can you just tell the ref ahead of time "we want TO as soon as play is dead." ?

Noticed on replay Kirk was calmly walking toward CJ, not running saying TO, TO!

 

[dirt33]

I saw that in another game last night. I forget which coach it was, but you could see him tell the ref "one second", and sure enough the ref whistled a stoppage with one second on the play clock, with the head coach just standing there not making any signal or saying anything.

 

[thewop]

You also could see narduzzi make a little timeout like signal prior to the first fg attempt and it was blown dead as soon as the ball was snapped. I had the same question.