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I think that the area for your attention gets smaller the more players are in it. Thus if the runner is not being threatened nor threatening either the side line or goal line then you should watch players around him. If you pin your eyes on the runner and miss the block just behind him then you aren't doing your job. After the play you can go back and explain what you saw in the way of where the contact was initiated and see if the other official agrees with what you saw. Then you can determine together if that contact was a foul and the R can also "see" what you saw. "I had one hand in the side and one on the back" or "I had both hands on the side and the player then fell on his front."
It seems that there are a lot of differing opinions about what is a block in the back. It was a few years ago but I saw a block which I saw as fine but two other officials I was working with flagged it. I saw it as clearly in the side but perhaps they were ruling it as "he didn't have his head in the front" or "the blocked player landed on his face." But if the third, disinterested party gets in on the discussion then perhaps he can, based on the descriptions, resolve the disagreement.
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