What Is Clipping In Football?

Players must avoid clipping opponents during a game because it involves making contact below an opponent's waist from behind, which could lead to injury. If players could hit opponents legally in this manner, more knee and ankle injuries could occur. Referees consider this a major infraction and punish the team that commits the foul accordingly.

Clipping

Clipping occurs when a member of one team blocks an opponent who does not have the ball from behind at or below that player's waist. The penalty only comes when the referee sees the initial point of contact as at or below the waist. When an offensive player commits this foul, it leads to a 15-yard penalty from the previous spot of the ball. When a defensive player commits this penalty, it leads to a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down.

Exceptions

In some cases, players can legally clip opponents, provided the infraction takes place in the designated blocking area within three to five yards of the line of scrimmage. During these plays, however, the blocker cannot make initial contact with an opponent's knee, leave the blocking zone and then return to block an opponent below the waist or block an opponent below the waist once the ball has left the zone. In addition, the referee does not call clipping when an opponent turns his back on a blocker in an attempt to draw a penalty or when the player making contact attempts to reach the ball or ball carrier and accidentally makes illegal contact with an opponent along the way.

Referee Signal

When a clipping penalty has occurred, the referee makes a personal foul signal and then strikes the back of his calf with one hand. This remains similar to the signal for an illegal block below the waist, except that he strikes the front side of his leg when making that call.

Similar Penalties

Other penalties like blocking below the waist, the chop block and the block in the back have similarities to clipping. Blocking below the waist occurs when a player makes initial contact with another at or below the waist from the front. A chop block occurs when one blocker has already engaged a player and a second blocker hits him at or below the waist. A block in the back occurs when a blocker makes initial contact to the backside of an opponent, but the contact occurs above the waist.