However - if those fakes are OK, then there should be much MUCH more leeway in what you allow a defender to do before calling it a late hit or an out of bounds hit.

If you're going to penalize a guy for hitting a QB as he's stepping out - especially when it's a QB who's been known to run down the sideline after pretending he's going out - that doesn't seem all that fair.

Likewise, it doesn't seem all that fair to require a defender to pull up on a QB who is acting like they're going to slide. Until the guy is down, he's fair game. And if the move to tackle happens before he is all the way down - no penalty.