Took 7 months for me to ask??
 

During a game, our OL doubled the DT. In the process of this, one of our lineman slips and unintentionally hit the already engaged DT in the knee area. A plenalty was thrown, but when we asked the white hat who threw the flag what happened, he said the line man slipped and unintentionally hit the kid. Is this still a flag? Thanks

Was your OL already contacting the defender when he slipped or did he slip during his charge resulting in his initial contact being with the defender's knee? If it was the latter I say it's a good flag. Safety trumps slipping.

Nothing in there about intent, so an "accidental" chop block is still a chop block.

Like so many things we see in a football game, you have to actually see what happened to determine whether it was legal or not. The "Chop Block" definition does not mention intent, but it does require there has to be a "block", which doesn't necessarily include any type of contact.

Football players bump into each other all over a football field in ways that never quite make to the level of being a "block". So although a "chop BLOCK", may always be a chop BLOCK, that doesn't mean every contact between two players constitutes being a "block" of any sort.

Thjat's why it's so important that we see the entire action, not just the tail end of it. From the way this situation was described, it sounds like the White Hat's internal review system overruled his initial response and he corrected himself, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

If I accidentally clip you, its still a clip. If I accidentally jump the snap count, its still a false start.

Some fouls don't have mitigating factors. Sounds more like he was letting the coach know so as not to chew his player's butt for the foul, as much.

It makes no difference whether it was intentional or not, the defender could have still been injured: which is why the rule exists. Flag.

Gentlemen, with all due respect, acknlowledging and agreeing that a "clip" is always a "clip" and a "chop block" is always a "chop block", does NOT mean that every type of contact, including that which may be incidental, forced or otherwise not measuring up to the definition of a "block", with an opponents lower extremities, is automatically either a clip or a chop block, nor automatically, merits a flag.

One of the most basic and overriding aspects of officiating is that one should see the entire action to determne if any mitigating circumstances might have been in play that would prevent the action from being designated as a foul.

That's why I pose the question. I never argued the fact that a penalty was called, but I asked because the white had called a chop, but then told me it was accidental because he said the player was going to drive the DT up the field, he lost his footing and blocked below the waist.

Another "basic aspect of officiating" is when asked a question about a play you didn't see, keep your response to the letter of the rule, rather than try and address the possible slant applied to the question.

As others have suggested, intent is not a factor in any of the rules under discussion, however what you may recall being told may, or may not, exactly reflect what the official intended to impart to you. How that particular play may have been called reflects specifically what that particular official observed on that particular play.

Apparently, based on his final action, he did not consider the contact he observed to constitute a "block" below the waist or the low end of a chop block. If he believed there was some initial contact with the opponent prior to slipping and falling low that would likely affect his judgment as well.

According to NCAA umpires I know, if a backside guard reach blocks low on a defender who engages into the front side center whose intent is not to block him, but reach block himself, it is still a chop block. We can not judge intent.

Here is a good example of needing to get the description as exact as possible.

In your first quote you say they were involved in a double team and the lineman slipped low.
In your second quote you say the lineman was going to block and slipped low.

(Note: I only know NCAA - FED might be different).
There is an important distinction here, since the rule says the INITIAL contact needs to be below the waist.
If the lineman was involved in blocking high, and slipped low, I would say no penalty - but one might come out if the official only saw that later part of the action.
If the lineman was trying to block and slipped and made the first contact low, I have a penalty. Intent is not part of the rule, only the contact.

Actually, it DOES matter, though I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your opinion here as its based on the OP play. On that one, obviously, you'd have to see it, but the key question is: did the offense gain an advantage? Yes = flag; no = pass on it.

However, if it is clearly unintentional you are more likely than not to pass on the call. Here's an example that happened in one of my games last year: sweep or pass play to the flat, offensive lineman out there blocking and ends up face down on the ground (no foul involved). Right behind him is his teammate who's engaged with a defender and they both trip over the guy on the ground, who might have been in the process of getting up (I didn't actually see this). Chop block? No way, even though by definition, it fits (and the fact that the coach is yelling for it).

You apply advantage/disadvantage to a chop block call?

I didn't say that it did. But intent is NOT an issue. Most players don't intend to grab a facemask, but that doesn't mean it's not a penalty.

The referee was there and he disagreed with you. That's why he threw the flag.

A chop block is a safety issue. It has nothing to do with advantage/disadvantage.

I think it does. It's like the insanity defense. Sure, the act was committed, but punishing it wouldn't deter anyone in a similar position from doing it.

The penalty doesn't make anyone more safe after the fact, only as a deterrent to doing it, either deliberately or negligently. In the case of the player face planting on the ground, possibly getting up, and participating unintentionally in what fits the definition of a chop block, it would do no good to the game to penalize it if the team derived no advantage from it and it was accidental -- not only accidental in the sense of unintentional, but accidental in the sense that it couldn't've been avoided by a reasonable modification of anyone's playing style or assignment.

In the original case, where a slip resulted in a low block, you might judge that the positioning and blocking assignments of team A could be chosen to produce a lesser or greater chance of an accidental chop block by such means, which would give a reason to penalize if one occurred. In the face plant case where the engaged players stumbled over him, no way.

Robert in the Bronx