A referee can see the ball goes out of bounds, then jogs along the sidelines to call where the ball should be placed. From the view on the field however, from any angle, one referee couldn’t really tell where it went out while the ball is in the air. There is never a break or replay look, so do they just get as close as they can?
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The ones jogging along the sidelines aren’t the ones who know where it went out. As you correctly guessed, they don’t have the right angle to see it.
The one who actually sees where it went out is the Head Referee, the guy with the white hat standing behind the punter. He has the perfect angle to see where it went out.
It doesn’t get shown on TV very often, but if you look closely you’ll see that the Side Judge or Down Judge jogging along the sideline will be holding his hand high in the air. This is his signal to the Head Ref to say “I couldn’t see where it went out, tell me when to stop.” The Head Ref will then wait until the guy gets to the right point along the sideline, and he’ll signal with an overhead chopping motion to tell him to stop. That’s where the ball gets spotted.
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