NFL likely banning hip-drop tackle

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Again, no one is saying that won't happen. Defenders who end up behind the runner could stop them more easily using a horse collar tackle, so banning those creates situations where the runner gets more yards.

This is a different type of tackle, but the result will be the same. Once or twice a game, a runner might get more yards than they would have before. It's OK. Games will still be fun.

Look man, I'm not a fan of the drop tackle. Or the horse collar. I've posted many times about how I hate both of those tackles. But that's not the point here. The point is what the league has decided is not a legal tackle anymore.

Watch that video above again. Many of those tackles the NFL wants to get out of the game (presumably by flagging them) are just tackles. If they actually ref it that way, there'll be laundry all over the field all game, unless defenders just quit on plays just because they're slightly behind the runner.


I mean, maybe the player will figure out how to tackle these faster players without allowing their lower bodies to swing (from a purely physics standpoint this is problematic), but I doubt that's what's going to happen. More likely we'll see a further degradation of the quality of the game, as we watch players just simply give up on tackles in an effort not to draw a flag/fine. Same as defenders allowing QBs to escape or just hugging them instead of hitting them is making pass-rushers less effective as any contact outside of a very specific strike zone or if excessive force is used is now a flaggable/fineable offense that they have to wary of.



And btw, that's always been the cost of doing your job poorly on a football field. You're supposed to get hit hard if you don't do your job correctly in the NFL. That's the price. This whole huggy-squeezy/lay him down as gently as possible/don't hit him below the knees/don't hit him above the nipples/don't hit him too hard thing isn't football.