New "No Blind Blocking" Rule

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MichiganDad3

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In an effort to move CFB closer to flag football, there is a new rule against blind blocks this year. You cannot hit anyone with force if they are not looking at the defender. I guess no block in the back was not good enough. Can you imagine how many bad flags this creates? I want less decision making by the refs, not more.

 
MichiganDad3 said:
In an effort to move CFB closer to flag football, there is a new rule against blind blocks this year. You cannot hit anyone with force if they are not looking at the defender. I guess no block in the back was not good enough. Can you imagine how many bad flags this creates? I want less decision making by the refs, not more.
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I thought we already had that with defenseless player.

 
I still remember  ESPN featuring  Jacked up for big hits, now you get suspended for it. 

I understand player safety and not wanting mush for brains but at the same time these are big, fast, strong humans.

 
MichiganDad3 said:
In an effort to move CFB closer to flag football, there is a new rule against blind blocks this year. You cannot hit anyone with force if they are not looking at the defender. I guess no block in the back was not good enough. Can you imagine how many bad flags this creates? I want less decision making by the refs, not more.
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So, do you just yell "HEY IDIOT" really loud before you hit them? I have no idea how this is enforced without horrible flags.

 
So a defender is barreling down at the ball carrier and unless a blocker is directly in his line of sight you can't block him?  Someone running fast is going to be awfully hard to block if you can't hit them with force?  Can't wait for this to be applied horribly and at inconvenient times this season.

 
No More Blindside Blocks

Arguably the biggest change of the offseason is the elimination of the blind-side block. Any block deemed to be of the blind-side variety will be a 15-yard-penalty. Expect to see plenty of controversy about this rule as referees prioritize this change early in the season.

The NCAA defines a blindside block as: “An open-field block against an opponent that is initiated from outside the opponent’s field of vision, or otherwise in such a manner the opponent cannot reasonably defend himself.”

Here is the text from https://247sports.com/Article/College-football-rule-changes-2019-explaining-targeting-blindside-blocks-134676086/

 
Blind side blocks are so fun! I still remember sprinting at the QB one second then seeing nothing but sky, wondering where I went wrong and why it was taking so long to hit the ground. 

Kenny Bell is the Last Blind Sider.

 
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I'm interested (nervous?) to see how this is actually enforced because it seems like there could be a lot of nuance.

For example, if I'm a blocker pursuing a defender, and that defender's shoulders are squared up to me, but their head is turned and I'm technically outside their current "field of vision," will I be penalized for hitting them? I can understanding wanted to do away with the hits that happen on the side/shoulder pad area where a tackler clearly couldn't see it coming, but the language seems a bit vague.

That said, I don't rightly know or recall how many hits Nebraska blockers had last year that would qualify as a penalty now. I can't think of any off the top of my head but I'm sure there were some.

 
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Enhance said:
I'm interested (nervous?) to see how this is actually enforced because it seems like there could be a lot of nuance.

For example, if I'm a blocker pursuing a defender, and that defender's shoulders are squared up to me, but their head is turned and I'm technically outside their current "field of vision," will I be penalized for hitting them? I can understanding wanted to do away with the hits that happen on the side/shoulder pad area where a tackler clearly couldn't see it coming, but the language seems a bit vague.

That said, I don't rightly know or recall how many hits Nebraska blockers had last year that would qualify as a penalty now. I can't think of any off the top of my head but I'm sure there were some.
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Seems like this would be more of an issue on change of possession plays (punts/INTs) or WR screens.

 
MichiganDad3 said:
You cannot hit anyone with force if they are not looking at the defender.
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I'm all for safety rules.  But, they must be enforced in a way that in the majority of times, the offending player had the ability to do something different and avoid the penalty.  For instance, one problem with the head to head contact rules with QBs is that we've seen instances where the defender is coming in correctly to avoid a penalty, but the QB drops his body at the last second which initiates the head to head.  That's a problem and the defender should not be penalized.  

I see this as something similar.  So, I'm a linebacker going after an RB in the flats...I sense that the tackle is about to block me from the side....I simply turn my head away from him before the hit and he ends up penalized???

Is this what they are saying?

 
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BigRedBuster said:
I see this as something similar.  So, I'm a linebacker going after an RB in the flats...I sense that the tackle is about to block me from the side....I simply turn my head away from him before the hit and he ends up penalized???

Is this what they are saying?
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It’s a problematic rule, imo. It comes down to what the official deems forcible contact, and that’s a very difficult call on the field of play. You can get in the way, you can even initiate contact, but you can’t blow the guy up. 

 
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