Targeting calls - Week 1 (Video)

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by CT1

You’re kidding, right? There’s no way he was trying to avoid contact.

He could have extended his arms and legally pushed the runner OOB, but instead chose to deliver an illegal “big hit”.

Would you coach a player in such a situation to extend his arms so as to hit w the hands? Whenever I see that, it looks like contact is deliberate. Such a hit may still be legal, but in situations where it's marginal as to whether a hit could be judged a late one, I'd've coached what this player did to try to rotate his shoulders out of the way. Are officials now looking at extended arms as a good faith attempt to avoid an illegal hit?