Free blocking zone

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Brandon Kincer

Can someone please explain the free blocking zone to me?

Depends what kind of explanation you want. Do you want a general rationale?

When it was realized long ago that hits on the back of a leg had a propensity to tear anterior cruciate ligaments, which are thin and the tearing of which produces a "trick knee", clipping was outlawed, but with two pragmatic compromises: it would still be allowed against a ballcarrier, and in some vicinity (in space and time) of where the ball was snapped. That vicinity wasn't well specified at first, but soon it was defined in space as a rectangle known as the "free blocking zone" (FBZ), called the "scrimmage zone" or "close line play area" in other codes. Since that formulation, its dimensions in NCAA & Fed have been reduced twice, to where it is now delimited by lines 3 yards on either side forward and back of the ball as ready for play, and 4 yards left and right.

Also other restrictions on blocking below the waist regardless of direction were adopted because why shouldn't the other knee ligaments get protection too? And more recently blocking in the back even above the waist. The FBZ was incorporated as an area of exception in the case of blocking in the back, but in an opposite manner in the case of blocking below the waist in NCAA & NFL, where players who outside the FBZ at the snap were prohibited from doing so in the FBZ. Later this last was amended to also prohibit it by backs who were in motion at the snap if that motion had not been entirely within the FBZ.

The temporal extent of the FBZ is manifest by its dissolving when the ball leaves it. This produces a difficult call in Fed for blocks below the waist that occur in the initial line charge while the ball is being snapped to a point outside the FBZ. Some state HSAs using Fed have instructed their officials to rule in such cases that either the ball will always have left the zone before the contact is initiated, or that the contact will have always been initiated before the ball has left the zone, depending on the State.

Robert in the Bronx

[mikesears]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

... This produces a difficult call in Fed for blocks below the waist that occur in the initial line charge while the ball is being snapped to a point outside the FBZ. Some state HSAs using Fed have instructed their officials to rule in such cases that either the ball will always have left the zone before the contact is initiated, or that the contact will have always been initiated before the ball has left the zone, depending on the State.

Robert in the Bronx

And SOME states haven't made any kind of "default" ruling for this.

[KWH]

This play should provide fresh clean drinking water to an extremely muddy puddle.

See 2008 NFHS CASEBOOK Page 13, 2.17.2 SITUATION E

This play was added to the Casebook in 2007. Unfortunatly, however, Mike Sears is correct that not all states agree. Therefore it is best to consult your state rules interpreter on this one.

[Reffing Rev.]

In Both NE and MO it is pretty much interpreted at least every time I've heard the interpreters speak about it as it is in the book.

If the ball is in the zone when the block is BEGUN then the ball is in the zone for the block...in other words if at the snap a lineman begins to block low, he may do so even if at the moment of contact the ball has already left the zone. If he stands or retreats before going low, and the ball has left before he starts his block then he's guilty.

ALSO it should be noted: Defensive players in the zone may block below the waist but not in the back nor may they clip. (My FB career ended when a DL clipped me)

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Reffing Rev.

In Both NE and MO it is pretty much interpreted at least every time I've heard the interpreters speak about it as it is in the book.

If the ball is in the zone when the block is BEGUN then the ball is in the zone for the block...in other words if at the snap a lineman begins to block low, he may do so even if at the moment of contact the ball has already left the zone.

Hmmm...that's an expansive idea, interpreting "blocking" as beginning some time before the actual contact. If at the snap, an OL stays low and takes several steps in a straight line (though not straight ahead of where he started) before hitting a DL, where did that block "begin"?

Robert in the Bronx

[Reffing Rev.]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Hmmm...that's an expansive idea, interpreting "blocking" as beginning some time before the actual contact. If at the snap, an OL stays low and takes several steps in a straight line (though not straight ahead of where he started) before hitting a DL, where did that block "begin"?

Robert in the Bronx

Sorry, let me put in another situation when we commonly use the same logic.

A77 outside the free blocking zone begins his charge at B99, his charge is at B99's front of the torso below the neck above the waist. Because of a sudden movement either a spin or jump or duck the contact actually occurs in the back, or below the waste, or above the neck. What do you have? No flag because the initial charge was legal.

This is similar, the initial charge begins when the ball is in the zone, legal. "Several steps" does not sound like an initial charge I would refer to.

[ajmc]

There can always be extreme or hyper technical evaluations of the language of, just about, any rule used to create hypothetical interpretations that generate questions about potential scenarios that NEVER happen.

ReffingRefs suggestion above, is straightforward, understandable, readily recognizable and applicable, logical, follows the basic intent of the rule, and makes sense in how it applies to the general situation it relates to (line blocking) and is likely the interpretation that is most generally accepted.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Reffing Rev.

Sorry, let me put in another situation when we commonly use the same logic.

A77 outside the free blocking zone begins his charge at B99, his charge is at B99's front of the torso below the neck above the waist. Because of a sudden movement either a spin or jump or duck the contact actually occurs in the back, or below the waste, or above the neck. What do you have? No flag because the initial charge was legal.

This is similar, the initial charge begins when the ball is in the zone, legal.

I don't think the situations are comparable. B99 made a movement A77 wasn't anticipating. By contrast, a player of A is expected to know his own team's formation and play, and shouldn't be allowed to BBW on the basis of not knowing whether the ball's leaving the FBZ.

If you extended your logic, what about situations where a kick from scrimmage is expected, yet an opposing player hits the kicker because when that opposing player "began his charge", the kick, albeit expected, had not occurred yet?

Robert in the Bronx

[jaybird]

Originally Posted by Reffing Rev.

If the ball is in the zone when the block is BEGUN then the ball is in the zone for the block...in other words if at the snap a lineman begins to block low, he may do so even if at the moment of contact the ball has already left the zone. If he stands or retreats before going low, and the ball has left before he starts his block then he's guilty.

That is the interpretation we were given in Oklahoma as well.