The situtation came up on another board about "tackling" the pitch man on the option.

I said that you can't "tackle" him before he has the ball, that would be holding, but you can hit him. But now I'm wondering if that would constitute, pass interference, because it is a "backward pass" and you can not interfere with the receivers right to the ball.

So what would a ref call this???

Racky

It's holding by definition - same as if you tackled the back on a developing screen.

You can, however, legally block him from the front above the waist..

But when the QB pitches the ball wouldn't that be interference?

Racky

backward passes are not subject to DPI calls. For that matter, a forward pass would have to have crossed the NZ before DPI can be the call.

we had a similar discussion last night on the 2nd receiver on a double pass. You can't tackle the receiver before he catches the ball but you can legally contact him above the waist (since interference restrictions for the defense end when the first pass is touched)

also heard that Fed will probably get rid of the double pass and go with the NCAA rule in the next year or two

Thank you for the info.

Racky