“Fuck the players, we want more offense!”
I wouldn’t be too worried, comprised only 0.4% of all tackles since 2022. It’s not like they’re taking away some vital frequently used technique or banning tackling from behind or something.
It’s banned in rugby as well. Doesn’t help that many videos being posted by people against the ban are mixing clear hip drop tackles with clearly not hip drop tackles to obfuscate what’s actually being talked about. This one is actually very informative and details all three components needed for a hip drop tackle.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5KJ9mCbS3rU
I think there’s way more subjective penalties in the game already. I would be pushing for changes to how officiating works in general if that’s the concern rather than getting too upset about banning an already extremely rarely used technique with a high injury rate. We’ll see how subjective the actual final rule will end up being, but if they restrict it to only tackles with all three of those components like rugby it’s very cut and dry.
I will say I’m a little nervous they’ll treat it like a horsecollar and over call it on plays that clearly don’t qualify, but even though I’m guessing 1/2 the times horse collar is called it’s wrong, it’s rare enough that it’s not that damaging to the quality of the game.
I agree, any penalty being over called could become a problem. If refs suddenly start hallucinating any penalty it would be an issue, doesn’t matter how good the underlying rule is. I don’t think banning hip drop tackles is the problem though. I think the anger is being misdirected to individual penalties instead of broader issues with how officiating works.
That and people just assuming they know what a hip drop tackle is without researching it more and realizing how rare it actually is. If you just go to YouTube and search hip drop tackles right now, you’ll find some good examples. But you’ll also find a lot of outraged sport podcasters posting videos of just a defender pushing or throwing a runner down onto the runner’s hips, with the defender even still standing. That’s not what hip drop tackle means, it doesn’t even refer to the runner’s hips. Just wrapping your hands around their waist from behind is not a hip drop tackle. It’s only when the defender grabs with both hands or arms, twists, often with the defender’s feet leaving the ground, and pins the runners legs to the ground with the defenders body weight, does it become a hip drop tackle.
Found the text of the rule, has all three elements just like the rugby ban:
ARTICLE 18. HIP-DROP TACKLE. It is a foul if a player uses the following technique to bring a runner to the ground:
(a) grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and
(b) unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.
It’s dirty, intended to hurt people, and not effective really on any level as a football play. I’m all for the ban.
I think they should have the booth weigh in on personal fouls when they throw the flag, personally. You’re already stopping it. The commentary from former officials with horse collar is still pretty bad, with them justifying calls that aren’t that close, so I’m not sure the booth will help, but you should have the layer anyways.
I’m also on the Bill Belichick “allow anything to be reviewed” train. Have a ref with camera access who can assist the team to make corrections in real time without stopping anything, and allow the challenge flag to be applied to anything at any time. If they want to use it on an automatically reviewed play because they think you missed something, who cares? They only get two or three.
I agree with you on all of the above. Also I think any successful challenge should be refunded. Silly that you can successfully challenge one play, but then not get it on the second challenge, and then not be allowed to challenge again the rest of the game. When if the order was reversed you would still have a challenge.
How is it “fuck the players” if this prevents injuries?
This isn’t about preventing injuries. This is about letting the refs call a penalty on any tackle. This rule is too vague.
If you’re pursuing a runner from behind, what’s the correct way to tackle now? Grab and roll your body away from the legs?
Just grab the flag, obviously
Grab them, hold on, try to stop. Like any tackle.
Don’t crush their legs with your body. That’s what’s been outlawed.
As long as your bodyweight is not pinning their legs to the ground you’re fine.
Hold onto their legs and by all means go to ground yourself so they can’t drag you along. But don’t deliberately land on their legs.
Your body weight can pin them to the ground, if it’s your upper body naturally as part of the tackle.
You’re only banned from having them wrapped up then throwing your lower body at their knees/ankles. That’s not something that happens organically.
The thing I’ve noticed is a lot of defenders have added in martial arts style takedowns.
Which are in and of themselves not necessarily dangerous EXCEPT in a scenario where you’re the only one engaging in the martial arts takedown.
In a sparring match when both competitors are aware of what’s going on you don’t hurt your partner and when being taken down you go down knowing it’s happening. This is of course within reason within the confines of a real time combat sport.
Going down because you’ve been overpowered is one thing, going down because someone has used a combat takedown to tweak your joints and cause your forward momentum to either break your joints apart or take you to the ground is gonna cause problems.
This is a good change IMO.
The NFL wants you to not tackle them.
Wrap them up? Seriously, if you’ve seen real examples of what it is, it’s very obviously a dirty play intentionally trying to hurt someone.
It doesn’t save yardage and it’s not good technique.
