[Offseason] Quick Rule Question on the '14 Air Wilfork Play

[Danger Zone]

I am quite sure there is a callable penalty on virtually every single play in the NFL.

That said, my question is, are players on the same team allowed to lock arms to block like this?

And sure we lost a game to the Jets a year earlier by being the first (only?) team in NFL history to get called for an unsportmanlike conduct penalty for pushing a teammate into the kicking formation, but its because of the similarities in these two situations (same teams, game winning field goal attempt) that the question popped into my head when I saw this photo.

Just curious.

 

[VectorPrime]

That was 2013

 

[Danger Zone]

That was 2013

I was pretty sure the Unsportmanlike Conduct penalty to lose the game was 2013 and the Air Wilfork block was 2014.

Don't mind being wrong (if I am). I've grown used to it.

 

[XLIX]

Rule 12 - Player Conduct
Section 1 - Blocking, Use of Hands and Arms

Article 4: Other Prohibited Acts. No offensive player may:

(b) use interlocking interference, by grasping a teammate or by using his hands or arms to encircle the body of a teammate

I would consider this interlocking interference.