Blocking from behind

[Rich]

Originally posted by Bob M.
REPLY: As BoBo said, you must see the whole play. And a great barometer to use in determining whether or not you have an IBB is to watch which direction the guy being blocked is propelled in. If he falls on his face, you probably have an IBB. If he lands on his side or on his butt, you most likely have a side block and no foul. I personally never look at where the blocker's head is. One of the most frequent incorrect calls that I've observed is on returns when the runner goes wide toward the sideline pursued by would-be tacklers. As he turns the corner, a blocker peels back down the sideline and blows up the tackler who is blind-sided by the block. In my observations, most of the time this is a legal block. But it is frequently incorrectly flagged as an IBB probably because the tackler never saw it coming.

I always tell my crew to make sure a BIB is between the shoulder blades before throwing a flag. Many coaches, especially at the lower level, and many newer officials think that a block the recipient doesn't see HAS to be a IBB. Nope.