Let the Whines Begin...

[rhickok1109]

I don't actually think its so easy, in this day and age they let linemen get away with what I was taught was illegal formation constantly by having tackles and even guards line up a yard behind the center. This complicates the identification of a legal receiver.

Very true. I have no doubt that they wouldn't have allowed the linemen to do that back in the 1960s or '70s. What used to be a nice straight line now looks like a mild version of the flying wedge.

The rule is that the helmet of a guard or tackle must break the plane that passes through the center's belt line. I don't believe it's changed in the last 50 years. I've seen several calls for an illegal formation when that rule was broken. There have been many times when I thought perhaps a tackle was too far back, but when I look closely I see that rule is being adhered to. Can anyone produce visual evidence of the rule being violated and the infraction not being called?

[John Grasso]

I don't actually think its so easy, in this day and age they let linemen get away with what I was taught was illegal formation constantly by having tackles and even guards line up a yard behind the center. This complicates the identification of a legal receiver. This is, along with the total non-enforcement of an offensive player pushing a ball carrier, my biggest pet peeve ignored rule in recent years.

Pushing the ball carrier is against NCAA rules but it is not against NFL rules. It is against NFL rules to pull the runner.

I'm confused. I thought that it was illegal for an offensive player to push the ball carrier.
I found this online. http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/useofhands

It begins "No player on offense may assist a runner except by blocking for him."
Has the interpretation of this changed in recent years?

[Reaser]

There have been many times when I thought perhaps a tackle was too far back, but when I look closely I see that rule is being adhered to. Can anyone produce visual evidence of the rule being violated and the infraction not being called?

Two days ago, Tyron Smith, multiple times.

Just choosing that since it's recent and you're a Packers fan. If you want to go back a couple years to another game with multiple, you can pop in your copy of the Giants-Packers Divisional playoff game (2011 season), at least that's another Packers related game (for ease of looking up on your end) that comes to mind where the tackles (both LT and RT) many times were definitely not through the "belt line".

Even better if you have access to the "coaches film" of the games mentioned.

[rhickok1109]

I don't actually think its so easy, in this day and age they let linemen get away with what I was taught was illegal formation constantly by having tackles and even guards line up a yard behind the center. This complicates the identification of a legal receiver. This is, along with the total non-enforcement of an offensive player pushing a ball carrier, my biggest pet peeve ignored rule in recent years.

Pushing the ball carrier is against NCAA rules but it is not against NFL rules. It is against NFL rules to pull the runner.

I'm confused. I thought that it was illegal for an offensive player to push the ball carrier.
I found this online. http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/useofhands

It begins "No player on offense may assist a runner except by blocking for him."
Has the interpretation of this changed in recent years?

There's no question of interpretation. It's simply not in the rulebook.

Look at this section of the NFL rulebook: http://static.nfl.com/static/content/pu ... onduct.pdf

There's absolutely no prohibition of pushing the runner. And note that in Article 4: "Other Prohibited Acts," it specifically states, "No offensive player shall pull the runner in any direction at any time." No mention whatsoever of pushing.

[NWebster]

Doesn't pushing connote an assist that's not a block? Maybe Chuck Mercin led me astray all along????

[rhickok1109]

Doesn't pushing connote an assist that's not a block? Maybe Chuck Mercin led me astray all along????

That wording is in only in the rules summary, which is often very misleading. It doesn't appear in the official rulebook. The rule was changed to legalize pushing the runner within the last 15 years.

[rhickok1109]

This is an Approved Ruling (A.R.) from the current NFL rulebook:

A.R. 12.2 Second and goal on B2. Runner A1 gets to the line of scrimmage and is stopped but A2, who is behind him, pushes him from behind and shoves him over the goal line.
Ruling: Touchdown.

[oldecapecod11]

Was that the Rule in force at the time of the Ice Bowl?
Chuck Mercein was specific in at least two interviews that his reason was NOT to denote Touchdown but to let all see he did not aid the runner (Starr.)
(A quick-thinking Yalie, I always thought?)

[rhickok1109]

Was that the Rule in force at the time of the Ice Bowl?
Chuck Mercein was specific in at least two interviews that his reason was NOT to denote Touchdown but to let all see he did not aid the runner (Starr.)
(A quick-thinking Yalie, I always thought?)

No, as I said above, the rule was changed within the last 15 years. In the 1999 rulebook, pushing the runner is listed as illegal along with pulling. I have discovered that pushing was no longer listed as a violation in the 2009 rulebook, but I haven't found any rulebooks between those two. The change was obviously made in the 2000-2008 period and I would guess closer to 2000 than to 2008, but I can't be sure.

[John Maxymuk]

Why are rule books so hard to find?