Rules For Blocking & Not Holding in Football

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson, for Expert Village. What we want to talk about now is when our guard is blocking effectively we want to make sure he doesn't do anything improper that will cost our team yardage. More times than not, you'll see a running back go around the end for a long run or the quarterback will step up and get a big run or you'll have a big pass play and then we find out that play doesn't stand and we lose 5 or 10 yards because of something the guard did. So, what we want to talk about is holding. That's the main thing we see these guys do. Instead of fitting up into the numbers like you're supposed to do, sometimes these guys will get wide and grab the shoulder pads (video demo). Of course, when you're in the numbers, you want to get hold of the jersey a little but you don't want to make it obvious. You want to be up close, grab a little jersey so you can move those guys easy. That's an old trick. But, don't let the official see you grabbing the jersey outside. Also, if this guy tries to get around to the inside you can't grab the outside of the jersey and you can't grab their shoulders and pull them down and you can't tackle them. Those are the things you cannot do on holding. One other penalty you cannot do is if this guy turns to run and he's out to the side, this guy cannot come down low and hit him on the leg when the other guy is facing to the side. He can hit him when he's coming head on or he can hit him to the inside but he cannot him to the outside and come down on those knees. That will be a clipping penalty. We don't want to cost our team yardage while trying to make a big play."