Find the illegal block! (video play)
 

Check out the video here
(click here for the slow motion version of the play)

Just to give you a little information that is not found on the video, after the play was over and the penalty enforced, the down was replayed from the 30 yard line. The penalty called was an IBIB, so it should have occurred around the 40.

The block by the slot receiver on the left side around the 30 yard line looks suspect, but that's the only one that I can find.

Let me know your thoughts.

Which official threw the flag?
I agree, the slot on the 30 is the only thing I see.

According to the referee, the linesman threw the flag

The block at the 30 was on the side at the shoulder and legal. Philosophically, a block in the back should only be called on blocks at the numbers. This block wasn't close. Bad call.

You're screen and vision are both probably better than mine. From what I see it probably could have been called but this apparently wasn't the block that drew the flag.

The right side SE runs all the way across the field and is coming back at about the 42 when he hits a defender (looks to be from the side but is close). This is FAR from the point of attack. If it is a foul it probably should be for a personal foul, not a BIB.

I think I found it. The camera is panning away from the HL's side of the field when a Team A player appears to contact a Team B player at about the 40 knocking both the Team B player and his teammate to the ground. If the HL did throw a flag the camera would not have picked it up.

However, what I thought I saw was a fairly good heads up contact and not a block in the back.

This block looked clearly in the back to me (the block :06 seconds into the movie at the 32).

I see the block you're talking about but not well enough, IMO, to decide on its legality from this video because the camera jerks as it is being panned.

The block at the 30 looks like a BIB but I can't exactly tell from the video.

As a side note, PA play by play announcers drive me nuts! :mad:

I think that the block @ the 30 was good, as was this one. It looks like when the defenders go down it looks like they both land on their side. Even if that 2nd block was a block in the back, I'm not sure how good a call it is because the point of attack was reversed and the ball was at the numbers at the time of the block. If that was the call it probably could have been passed on.

There is what appears to be a 3rd block in the back at the B45 (:14) that sprung the RB allowing him to run down to the 15, though...

I believe the slot at :06 is the guilty party. He goes out 5 yards and then comes back to block the OLB. If you watch, the OLB doesn't go sideways after the block, he falls forward indicating the block was in the back. I think he would have made the tackle and was a good catch be the HL.

I see 4 potential blocks in the back, although 2 of them look to be either good blocks or there isn't enough on the screen to determine if they are blocks in the back. 1st one is the one everyone is talking about, the one on the 30 in front of the HL. But from the original post, the play was replayed at the 30, so that can't be the one they worked from.

Second one I see is the one Ed found, at the 40 on the HL side. That has to be the one because of the location of the ensuing spot. However, I'll agree with Welpe that the camera doesn't show it very well to determine if it was a block in the back. One of those HTBT moments.

Third one looks like a block on the back, but because of the camera angle, it looks like a good block on the side, is around the 48 on the LJ side. It's the same defender that supposedly gets nailed in the back on the 45 (looks more like the 43) that refbuz was talking about. I would say either of those couldn't be it because of the ensuing spot after the penalty enforcement, and since TerpZebra said the referee said that the linesman threw the flag.

This play had penalty written all over it from the moment the reverse started, and really turned south on the offense penalty-wise the moment the flanker decided to reverse course and go the other way. As a former coach, I wouldn't have been shocked if just about EVERY official on the field had his flag down for something on that play.

The block in the back I saw was at the top of the screen with the slot receiver before the ball reversed to the bottom of the screen. I am not sure what others saw, but that was clear as day to me. Of course the officials on the field had a better look, but from our angle I see that as a BIB all the way.

Peace

I see a whole lot of "almosts" there but nothing I'd throw a flag on. Our BIB's are to be clear contact directly in the back, which I don't see anywhere on this video.
TXMike brings up a good point about a block away from the POA, it's at one hash while the ball is at the other, but I'd think with this play I'd be wondering if that's callable, and if I "wonder" or "think" it's a foul, then the flag stays home.

The slot receiver looks like the guilty party. As he makes contact with the other player note where his helmet is (on the backside of the player) I believe this could be not only BIB, but also a crackback block. Correct me if that's not the case. The other possible BIB is as the offensive player is running down the sideline a few blockers come in and w/o the best field position and one appears to push the defense to the sideline.