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at my rules clinic this summer I was perplexed by the response i got to the block below the waist rule...it has completely changed the way we coach on this matter...i wanted to see your responses to this...
Our head of officials clearly stated that if a defender puts his hands on a blocker then he saw him coming, had a chance to defend himself, and therefore even if the block was on the knee cap, and the blocker was looking at the ground, the spirit of the rule is to protect the defender and if he saw him coming all is well....
I know that in Texas/NCAA everything is different, but we are NF and i thought below the waist meant belwo the waist....I understand that if a defender pushes a blocker and causes himself to blocked below the waist then that is different, but i have film of an opppenent clearly in the open field and on special teams mind you diving at my defenders ankles, and out of pure instincts my defender places his hands on the blockers back on the way down after being cut blocked and therefore we got no call....it seems this means i need to caoch my defenders to make sure you play with your hands over your heads so if you get cut you wont touch the blocker...
anyway after much discussion, i was promised it would be enforced this way, so i gave in and started telling my blockers to aim for the thigh pad and the defender will put his hands on you and you will be fine. we have done this in all four games, and not one call for block below the waist in the open field....
any thooughts on this.....
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