Am I the only one here who sees this? Think what "pulling" entails, and if on offense you're pulling anything, it's got to be illegal use of hands. That hasn't been a 15 yard penalty for decades, but it's either:
- assisting the ballcarrier by pulling him,
- locking arms with a teammate in blocking, or
- holding an opponent.
Can anyone else explain how any form of "pulling the pile" where a teammate in the pile has the ball could be legal other than in Rugby Union?