Every time a yellow flag is thrown in the NFL, fans brace to hear one of several penalties. The usual suspects are often holding, offside, false start, pass interference, and the like. One that we don’t hear so often is the blindside block, but it is one of the most dangerous – and therefore severe – penalties that can be called in football.
Blindside Block in the NFL, Explained
“Blindside” has several connotations in NFL lingo. For many fans, it may call to mind an Academy Award-nominated film starring Sandra Bullock. The film told the now-famous story of Michael Oher, a high school football phenom turned NFL offensive tackle who blocked for his quarterback’s “blind side.”
But “The Blind Side” is not the same “blindside” we’re discussing here, of course. Notice the spatial difference in the letters.
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A quarterback’s blind side is his left-hand side (for righty QBs) or right-hand side (for lefty QBs), the side of his body that a QB cannot see as he backpedals in the pocket and is therefore paramount to protect at all costs. That’s why left tackles are often paid more than right tackles in free agency.
A “blindside block,” confusingly, doesn’t refer to blocking for the QB’s “blind side.” Instead, it refers to a specific type of dangerous blocking maneuver. As part of the league’s efforts to make the game of football safer for players, the NFL owners voted in 2019 to make blindside blocks a penalty.
At that time, the league released a clear definition of what constitutes a blindside block, noting that a player makes an illegal blindside block “if a player initiates a block when he is moving toward or parallel to his own end line and makes contact to his opponent with his helmet, forearm or shoulder.”
Noting how dangerous a blindside block can be, the NFL Football Operations department explained that one-third of all concussions suffered on punt plays were caused by blindside blocks. The NFL released an informational video with in-game visual examples to show what constitutes a blindside block.
Given the danger associated with blindside blocks, fouls called for this penalty result in a 15-yard personal foul on the culpable team. When committed by a defender, this gives the offense an automatic first down.