As a referee, I’ve trained my eyes to identify illegal helmet contact: spearing, butt blocking, and face tackling. But for me, the emphasis on how a player uses his helmet has created an unintended blind spot. I’ve become so focused on how players use their helmets that I haven’t always paid enough attention to how they use their hands, forearms, elbows, and shoulders above an opponent’s shoulders.
As a referee, I spend much of the game watching linemen. More than once, I’ve watched a charging defensive lineman contact an offensive blocker with his hand high into the throat or facemask area and failed to flag that illegal act. Looking back, I know I’ve been too permissive. This illegal contact often gives the defender an unfair advantage by allowing him to gain leverage or to defeat a block in a way the rules were specifically written to prohibit.
The rules establish a simple principle that is easy to overlook: football is intended to be played below the shoulders. Rule 2-3-2b requires a player’s hands to be inside the frame of the body and at or below the shoulders of both the blocker and the opponent. Rule 2-3-3 reinforces that principle by prohibiting a blocker from initiating contact with an arm or hand above the opponent’s shoulders. Those restrictions are more than technical requirements. They protect players from blows to the head and neck while ensuring that a player doesn’t gain an illegal advantage by intentionally contacting an opponent’s throat, neck, or facemask.
For me, the lesson isn’t that I need to memorize another rule. It’s that I need to retrain my eyes. I’ve spent years looking for illegal helmet contact while unintentionally overlooking what players, especially defensive linemen, were doing with their hands and forearms. That’s a blind spot I want to eliminate.
The next time you’re working a game, pay close attention to the initial charge of the offensive and defensive linemen. Watch where the hands land. Does a defender drive an open hand into the opponent’s throat to gain leverage? Does a blocker initiate contact above the shoulders? Does a player deliver a forearm or elbow to the head or neck? Those actions deserve the same level of attention we already give to illegal helmet contact.
Quiz
Read the quiz stem and then choose the best answer.
4/5 from the K-40. As K12’s foot strikes the ball, R45 blocks the kick while R33 simultaneously drives into K12, knocking the kicker to the ground.
a. No foul, R33’s contact with K12 is always legal because R45 touched the kick
b. Foul on R45 for roughing the kicker if the referee judges the contact was avoidable
Review Rule 9-4-5