Quote:
Originally posted by kdf5
I firmly believe that if the ball goes right and you call holding on the left that you don't subscribe to the "a good one knows when to throw and a great one knows when not to" theory.
However, how do we know that the guy held on the left wouldn't have gotten to the play but for the hold? Maybe he could have been the one to stop the 80 yd TD run?
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I believe that you have to call blatant holding (I mean the really big holds like take-downs, wrapping-up and not letting go, etc.) even if its away from the point of attack.
Good defensive teams are taught how to "stove-pipe" (Coach Hayden Fry's term not mine) which is to keep the runner north-south so that the pursuit will eventually catch-up. Once the runner breaks towards the sideline or against the grain back towards the other side is when the defense loses the advantage to use pursuit to run down the ball-carrier.
Therefore, I call holding if 1. the hold is obvious and 2. the hold is sustained.
P.S. This is my criteria for calling holding when the hold occurs away from the initial point of attack. From my umpire position this would be when I detect holding upon reading my initial key (in our mechanics its the block by the offensive tackle on the referee's side of the line).
Once I pick-up the actual point of attack then I will relax my "sustained" hold criteria because a momentary hold at the actual point of attack is more likely to create an unfair advantage to the offense.
Some of the holds I look for include: grasping the shoulder pads and turning the defender away from the runner, pulling the defender down by the front of his jersey, hooking the defender with an arm around the body and not releasing immediately, etc.
Most of the time the blocker can avoid holding by keeping his feet moving and legs driving ahead and when appropriate switching to an old-fashioned shoulder block versus the open-hand method.
A good defensive coach once told me that he realizes that offensive blockers will use their hands aggressively so he coaches his players to maintain separation from the blocker by extending their own arms and hands and pumping their legs and feet.
Which brings up a great point about defensive holding. I noticed that good defenses will often create a 3 on 2 advantage at a certain point on the line. So we must also be vigilant about defensive holding to allow a linebacker or defensive back the opportunity to make a play behind the line of scrimmage (including passing and kicking downs).
[Edited by Mike Simonds on Feb 6th, 2004 at 12:42 PM]