Somewhere in the chill of a north surburban Chicago night, retired NFL referee Jerry Markbreit had to be smiling - or wincing - in the frantic moments of the Raiders-Chargers Week 15 Thursday Night Football game. Referee John Hussey had to apply a rule that Markbreit wishes would have been on
Rules School
Dissecting blindside blocks: when is it legal or illegal?
Analysis by Rich Madrid There has been a great deal of confusion among fans as to what constitutes a blindside block. Part of that confusion stems from the fact that in 2019, the NFL competition committee changed the rules on blindside blocks. Originally, the rule covered only forcible contact to the
Roughing the passer will be ‘exactly the same’ in 2019, but what are officials looking for?
Embed from Getty Images Beginning this season, officials will be applying the following interpretations to the roughing the passer rule that caused much controversy last season and that we covered numerous times (here, here, and here among them). Through the first three weeks last season, officials threw 34 flags for roughing
Inside the new AAF defensive formation rules
Everything you need to know about 10-second runoffs
You make the call: What happens when a flag comes at the end of the quarter?
When a dead-ball foul is not a dead-ball foul
Week 6: Bengals at Patriots (video) In the fourth quarter against the Bengals, Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski caught a 12-yard reception and was tackled at the Bengals 8-yard line. After some two-sided friction after the play, officials separated the teams. While Gronkowski was being lead away by field judge Aaron
You make the call: Did the Dolphins have a legal formation on TD?
Week 6: Steelers at Dolphins The Dolphins scored a touchdown on a 1st-and-goal play in the second quarter with an elaborate formation shift. The touchdown wound up being nullified by an illegal formation penalty, and the Dolphins wound up kicking a field goal on fourth down. Did the officials correctly wipe
