2021 NFHS BBW/FBZ rule change/modification
 

For fall 2021 season-

https://www.nfhs.org/articles/blocki...ootball-rules/

I'm interested in how this will be ruled on in terms of movement close to the time of the snap. We usually have a meeting with an official's representative to our league in June, but with Covid-19 I don't know when that'll be arranged this year. So I'll throw out some situations here.

(1) Player A1 on the line and in the FBZ at the snap, feints with body movement (but not a step) to draw B1 (also on the line) to the inside, then steps to the outside to crab B1. Usually contact is just at the waist, but this time is clearly below it, and is in the FBZ with at least parts of their bodies in the neutral zone.

(2) B1 on the line in the FBZ and in the neutral zone bear crawls into the neutral zone at the snap, and then comes to a stop with part of his body still in the neutral zone. A1, also on the line and in the FBZ but some distance away laterally, pulls close to the neutral zone. He encounters B1 as the latter lingers in that position. A1 trips over B1.

(3) A1 and B1 face each other in 2-point stance on the line in the FBZ at the snap. Each player hesitates for a second "getting off", remaining in their stance without moving. After that delay, one or the other player immediately drops to make contact below the waist with the other.

THE NFHS 2/5/21 release explaining the revision to 2-17-2c (Blocking below the waist in the FBZ) clearly indicates, "that the block must be an immediate action following the snap" (removing any reference to the block being delayed as long as, "the ball must be in the zone".

It further suggests, "This change lets game officials observe the blocks and make a call without having to determine where the ball is and what formation the offense lined up in."

It simplifies and standardizes the requirements for "Blocking below the waist in the FBZ".

The question is going to be whether in any of the cases I outlined the contact is "immediate". The words "immediate" and "immediately" come up several times in the rule book, and in each context it signifies a different degree of immediacy.

At one extreme, "immediate" could encompass only actions by line players that take them just a step or two, with no intervening movement, and would preclude such tactics as having a player target an opponent who was farther away than that.

At the other extreme, "immediate" could mean everything that puts a player into position for contact, as long as it's his first move after the snap, and would encompass contact that occurs after one or both players wait for the other to make contact after the snap.

Why Fed didn't just adopt the solution many state associations did that applied only when the ball was snapped to a point beyond the FBZ is beyond me.

We all have the right to parse any word we like as far as we choose, but my Funk & Wagnall's describes "immediate" to mean : 1. Without delay, instant. 2. Separated by no appreciable delay. 3. Without the intervention of anything.

Even really, really "Dead Horses" deserve rest.

And those 3 definitions would imply different rulings on the cases I posed.

I sure hope we get to have that meeting in June. Fortunately if present trends continue, this pandemic will end this month in the USA.

As often considered, common sense, rational judgment and a thorough understanding, of not only the letter of a rule, but the objective of what the particular rule is intended to accomplish, or prohibit are important factors in guiding an official's determination as to whether what is specifically being observed, satisfies or conflicts with a rule's purpose.