So, was last season an outlier or the norm? Because just saying that "13 teams were starting backup QBs," without any context isn't very compelling, or at least it shouldn't be.

And how many of those QBs were injured by drop tackles? Just wondering, because I know at least a couple top-tier QBs were injured in no-contact situations.

I get wanting to keep great players on the field, but we've watched things decline to the point where DEs are hugging QBs instead of tackling them. And LBs/DBs are holding up instead of tackling running QBs for fear of drawing yet another idiotic flag (and a hefty fine from the league).

And at the end of the day, football is a violent extremely physical sport and injuries are going to happen. If you're that concerned about largely accidental injuries, maybe we really should just take the pads off and put the flags on and just play little girl football instead.

It's football. People get hurt. You can't prevent injuries in any sport. ****ing baseball has injuries and there is no contact in that.

Yeah, of course you can’t ban everything. But there are specific plays that are more dangerous than others and hip drops are something like 20x more likely to cause injury. Horse collars are rightfully banned. Things like chop blocks, targeting, roughing the passer… as much as we hate their overenforcement, those types of rules by and large are good for the game.

And these injuries have been impactful. We’re talking playoff players like dak, tyreek, pollard, Andrews.

I agree there is a right way to do this. And I’m guessing the league will see that this enforcement is way too broad. The nfl as with all other restrictions that supposedly were going to end the league always finds ways to adapt. Create a clearer and much more limited definition, teach way better tackling technique and adapt from there.

I haven't been paying close attention to this, but I'm a little surprised to see people against banning the tackle type that almost cost us a Super Bowl. It seems like every time this kind of tackle happens the player is getting hurt, so it won't bother me to see them come down on it.

As for the arguments that they're ruining the game by eliminating offense or whatever, that doesn't make a ton of sense to me. The NFL is more popular than ever after two decades of neutering defenses. You can have your 7-6 final score games - I'll take offensive excitement.

You aren’t trying to prevent injury, you are trying to reduce it. And if there are certain injuries that can be signficantly reduced through intervention you explore it. That’s why baseball players wear helmets and pitchers get tossed and suspended for throwing at players heads. That’s why they changed the rules around blocking the plate and base runners trying to take a shortstops knees out.

The folks complaining the loudest never heard of a hip drop tackle until 2022.

If there are recent rule changes that eliminate low blocks outside the tight end box and on kickoff and punt returns that apply to offense and defense, it is natural that landing on the back of a runner's legs can be addressed also. Especially with high profile plays of specific injuries recently.

-Papa CoMoChief circa 2004

Nah, several of the tackles shown as examples of hip drop tackles are just basic tackling and this new rule will just be another tool for the NFL to guide outcomes.

Dak isn't a great QB. He's pretty freaking average. He just plays for a very visible organization. If he was playing for LAC or CAR, no one would give two shits about that guy. Hell, he might be out of the league a long time ago in those situations.

And while I could go on about the way these rules are enforced, the problem is a lot deeper than that, imo.

OL play is pretty mediocre across the league, probably due in large part to the lack of real padded practices/the reduction of preseason games/teams being unwilling to play starters in those preseason games.

And then there's the simple fact that the NFL has been cooking the rules for years now to allow mediocre QBs to be starters. QBs that can't read defensive alignments pre-snap so consequently don't make proper protection adjustments (or just never do it at all), that aren't big enough to play in the NFL, or just throw their receivers into dangerous situations on a weekly basis.

Point being, it's the quality of play that's the bigger issue when it comes to injuries, not how defenders are tackling.

Making it harder for defenses to play isn't going to fix things. Making QBs, receivers and OLs better at their jobs would do more to protect players, imo.

That's not going to happen when you prioritize running fast over reading a defense fast...

Well, that's kind of my point. The game itself is descending into mediocrity, because the league offices value flash and speed and scoring over quality play. Which is how we get QBs like Lamar/Tua/Hurts/whoever getting $200+ million, when in 1980 (or the '90s), they probably wouldn't last more than a couple seasons, because no team would see them as a true elite QBs that could get them to the SB.

Unlikely to effect outcomes much as they plan to enforce through fines, not flags.

I am by no means saying dak is a good qb. But when a teams entire season is flushed down the toilet because of a season ending injury it’s not good for the game. And when guys like Skylar Thompson and josh Johnson and Tyler Huntley and henne play significant playoff minutes that is not good for the game either.

I agree offenses will eventually need to take some responsibility too. But tackling is a very big thing too. I would much rather see DBs for example wrap up, tackle and play the ball versus guys like Cisco who constantly use hit sticking guys as a crutch. Yeah I was way more outraged of defenses routinely knocking juju and Mvs out of games 2 years ago than I was at ever the thought they might stop guys like Cisco from doing it.

Go back to that clip above. Look at :03/:13 seconds just as examples. You're the DB: tell me what the proper way is to tackle that guy in those two examples please. I mean, I only played a couple years in HS, and was never more than a backup/utility player, so you tell me; how is he supposed to tackle those players 'properly' without doing what he did in both cases.

That and the very strong likelihood that they'd be dead, especially Tua.