Pulling the pile?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by bigjohn

red #39 is pulling the pile!
It is not illegal because he is on defense, but he is pulling the pile!

There should be a flag on this play though and most of you would not throw it. More than one A player is pushing the pile and helping the runner.

That is the spirit of the rule.

They've had a long time to say so in the rules, analogously to forced touching situations in relationship to the ball, but they haven't, so I assume they want to keep it legal. A defender turns his back to you in making the tackle just as you get there, or you work your way around in contact from his side to his back, then you can block him in the back, and that winds up xmitting force to the runner in this example, nothing you can do about it in the rules. I would say that if you approached from behind and the tackler already clearly had his back to you as you approached so that your initial contact was with his back, you should be flagged for that.