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Originally Posted by mcrowder
I did read the play. And your explanation. And I see no reason for the foul unless there was something else to it other than a block. The ball is live. You don't know (and neither does the kid making the block, nor the kid getting blocked), at the time of the block, that the ball carrier is going to hold on to the ball when he gets tackled. Heck, you don't even know for sure that he's GOING to get tackled - he could easily break out, reverse field, whatever, and this player who was blocked COULD become involved.
Would you flag an end on the right side of a play blocking the CB and "knocking him on his a$$" if the play was sweeping left, and the ball happened to be 20 yards away from this block? Of course not ... so why call it in the OP?
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This is truly judgement. If the official believes the player being legally blocked is truly out of the play, it is a foul.
You often see this on a long run when one of the defensive linemen is lumbering toward the play and some "enterprising" player sees his opportunity to "clean his clock" by turning around giving that smashing block. It is illegal!
However, my suggestion is to use preventative officiating by verbaly letting the players know you are there with something like "Keep it clean, don't hit anybody" when you are trailing the play.
It is a stupid penalty but it can also be dangerous if the player being blocked has a reasonable expectation of not being hit by his location well out of the play.