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This week we shine a spotlight on an important player safety issue - roughing the passer. In our PVDGFFL family, we never want to see someone get hurt, so we have safeguards and deterrents - including some that go beyond the NGFLL rulebook - that limit contact and decrease the chances of injury.
Rushers have one of the hardest jobs on the field - they play a position that demands speed, intelligence, and toughness. It's perhaps the most physical position on the field. It's important that our rushers understand the boundaries of what they can and cannot do while rushing. Quarterbacks are in an incredibly vulnerable position because they can't always see a rusher running at them and they have no way to protect themselves or brace for contact.
That's why rushers are not allowed to hit the quarterback under any circumstances. A rusher may ONLY reach for the quarterback's flags - they cannot go for the ball, the quarterback's arm, or hit the quarterback in any way. Although you can put your arms up to block a quarterback's view while you're engaged with a lineman at the line of scrimmage, your arms must come down when you're within 3-4 feet of the quarterback - within that 3-4 foot range you can only reach for the quarterback's flags.
Imagine the quarterback has a protective halo around them, similar to the circle that you might see around a quarterback in a video game. You cannot have your arms up within this halo and you cannot touch the quarterback other than to reach for their flags.
Hitting the quarterback, going for anything other than the quarterback's flags, or rushing with your arms up within the 'halo' will result in a roughing the passer penalty. Two roughing the passer penalties in a game will result in an ejection and automatic one-game suspension. After the first roughing the passer penalty, the referee will explain to the player and their captains exactly what the player did wrong and will notify them that a second infraction will result in ejection.
This is an important player safety issue, and we thank you for helping keep one another safe. All of these instructions were clarified last weekend with the captains and referees - please feel free to speak to your captains, the officials, or a Board member if you have any questions.
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