Quote:
Originally posted by sloth
I know this is probably going to sound pretty stupid (please bear with me I'm fairly new at this)> We had an instance in a freshman game where on of the officals threw a flag on a block in the back on a scrimmage kick. Apparently the gunner pushed the defender (blocker) in the back. I wasn't convinced this was a foul and neither was the referee (he ended up calling illegal use of the hands).
Then in an association meeting I brought this up during a quiz we were going over (there was a question about a player from the kicking team going low to bust up a wedge that the runner was behind). The response that I recieved was that the same restrictions apply to the offense as the defense witht he exception of the ball carrier and in case of a loose ball.
This really confused me. I though that as long as the action was not flagrent or a personal foul, that defensive player could push from behind or go low on a blocker as long as it was in an honest effort to get to the ball carrer (not backside/away from the play sort of action).
I'm very confused can anyone help me see how to call this from now on? What are y'alls thoughts? I'm going to go back over the federation books and try to sort of some of these questions, but input here would be great as well.
Jim
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Your questions are not stupid, but you definitely have some things to learn. I don't have my rulebooks, so there will be no rule references, but I think your general misunderstanding is simple. You seem to be confusing an attempt to tackle the ball carrier with a block. Only offensive lineman may block defensive lineman in the back and only in the free blocking zone and only when the ball is in the zone. This is a change from last year (nfhs) since defensive lineman could also block in the back last year. Going through someone incidentally to get the ballcarrier is a different animal. Although, the flag your official threw may have been something that many officials would overlook if it was not severe or obvious if it happened it would be a foul.