Targeting - Helmet to Helmet

[dvboa]

How would you call this play? Flag or no flag?

[RulesStudy]

Under the 2012 NFHS rulebook I would rule illegal helmet contact (face tackling), 15 yards (9-4-3i).
I am fuzzy on penalty enforcements but I believe it will be from the succeeding spot (A's 12), so it will be 1st and 10 from the 27.

[JRutledge]

It looks like all the contact was with the shoulder. I would need the wing's angle on this play to know for sure. But it is certainly close in this day and age.

Peace

[Robert Goodman]

I can't tell from this angle what he actually hit with. He turned in a way that made it look like he wanted to use his shoulder. However, that also put the crown of his own helmet in the line of fire. It might also be considered that he targeted the opponent's head with his shoulder, although it's not clear he made contact that way either.

You might try to make a case for a more general provision of unnecessary roughness being applicable here, but that's not a given either. There was someone attempting a tackle but failing to stop the runner's progress, and who's to say a high, fast hit wasn't necessary to kill his momentum?

[HLin NC]

On the first clip, at full speed, from a distance, hard to say. I would defer to the covering official, who passed.

Slowed down, zoomed in, running back & forth 3 times, I'd say it should have been called IHC.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

I can't tell from this angle what he actually hit with. He turned in a way that made it look like he wanted to use his shoulder. However, that also put the crown of his own helmet in the line of fire. It might also be considered that he targeted the opponent's head with his shoulder, although it's not clear he made contact that way either.

You might try to make a case for a more general provision of unnecessary roughness being applicable here, but that's not a given either. There was someone attempting a tackle but failing to stop the runner's progress, and who's to say a high, fast hit wasn't necessary to kill his momentum?

I am not sure how you can call UNR if the hit was legal. If the hit was illegal it is only for helmet contact that is illegal. Nothing wrong with just a hard tackle.

Peace

[bisonlj]

This is the kind of crap we need to get out of football. It does appear he may have hit first with his shoulder but he was not trying to tackle anyone. He was only trying to blow someone up with a hit. The fact he was initiating high with his body and hitting the runner high I would go with a foul in real time and live with the call if it was leading with a shoulder.

Players have to start tackling and get away from the blow-up hits.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I am not sure how you can call UNR if the hit was legal.

That's circular, isn't it? The question is, was it UR? Is the clause, "Make any other contact which is deemed unnecessary and incites roughness" still in there?