Helping the runner?

[Robert Goodman]

Then let's analyze them 1 at a time.

#65 puts his hand on the runner's back, maybe grabs his shirt, but look at the resulting action. If anything, deflecting the runner in the direction he was appearing to would have pulled him down, and the runner winds up moving forward into contact with him in a way that negates whatever deflection the hand on the back might've produced.

Then #55 appears to pull the runner as #55 goes down himself. It looked like he was trying to steady himself rather than impart momentum to the ballcarrier. The ballcarrier's twisting motion in that direction was caused by the tackler, and if anything #55 would've aided the tackler rather than the runner.

If the contacts had been with an opponent rather than a teammate, would you have called illegal use of hands? I think you have to apply the same standard of the effect the contact has.