Why is assisting the runner a penalty?

Answer 1

Short Answer, yes. Long Answer, yes, but it is never called unless it is blatant or it puts a player's safety at risk. Pushing the pile is not ever called. Pulling a player forward is both dangerous and blatant If a player is blatantly pushing a pile forward, an official is most likely going to blow the whistle to stop the play and declare that forward progress stopped when the player began pushing the pile. A distinction should also be made between pushing a pile (not blatant) and pushing a player forward (blatant).