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NFL Bans the "Hip Drop Tackle"

colbert17

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Aug 30, 2014
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Can someone explain to me what this is? I've watched a couple of videos on Youtube and it looks like a normal tackle. It's not like a horse collar which is pretty obvious. Does anyone else think this going to cause a lot of confusion???
 
It has to do with dropping your body weight on the legs of the running back. You grab, rotate to the rear and then drop down on the running back's legs. Been an issue in rugby for a while now. There are a lot more tackles in a rugby game than in football. But it's only been banned in a couple of leagues, not widely. When you see videos of a bunch of them, you'd say, "Yep, ought to get rid of that."
 
There seems to be some nuance to the ban.
The form of the hip-drop tackle to be banned includes "unweighting with a swivel" - too much torque.

"Rich McKay from the NFL Competition Committee thinks they've done the right thing. He's sure there won't be any problems, saying: "For me, no, none whatsoever.

"Because this isn't the elimination of hip-drop, this is an elimination of a swivel technique that doesn't get used very often. When it is used, it is incredibly injurious to the runner - the runner is purely defenseless. I've heard defenders say before and I hear them - 'Hey, you're putting me in a really tough spot, you're saying I can't hit here and what do I do?'

Yes, we outlawed the hip-drop, but what you may think are the drag-from-behind where he falls on the – that's still a tackle. This is only that tackle where the player is lifting themselves in the air and then falling on the legs."


 
There seems to be some nuance to the ban.
The form of the hip-drop tackle to be banned includes "unweighting with a swivel" - too much torque.

The article you posted disagrees with the nuisance you speak of.
"Now, it has been ruled that any use of the hip-drop tackle will result in a foul and a penalty given against the offender."
 
D players hate it because it makes their job harder. If there is a high correlation between the tackle and injuries, it makes sense. D players appreciate the ban of blindside blocks or low blocks.
 
D players hate it because it makes their job harder. If there is a high correlation between the tackle and injuries, it makes sense. D players appreciate the ban of blindside blocks or low blocks.
Defensive penalties have ruined the NFL. Ticky tack crap most of it. In this case the runner is allowed to keep trying to gain yards but the defender has to give up his limited ability to stop a player. There are good changes to the game like crown of the helmet hit and horse tackle. However most new defensive penalties are to encourage higher scoring. The NFL is all about satisfying the gamblers and fantasy players.
 
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Defensive penalties have ruined the NFL. Ticky tack crap most of it. In this case the runner is allowed to keep trying to gain yards but the defender has to give up his limited ability to stop a player. There are good changes to the game like crown of the helmet hit and horse tackle. However most new defensive penalties are to encourage higher scoring. The NFL is all about satisfying the gamblers and fantasy players.
NFL is very popular. Fans want to see high scoring. Player safety should be high priority. The hip drop is to prevent the offensive player to gain additional yards. You can complete the same tackle w/o the drop but the runner will be able to get additional yardage.
 
NFL is very popular. Fans want to see high scoring. Player safety should be high priority. The hip drop is to prevent the offensive player to gain additional yards. You can complete the same tackle w/o the drop but the runner will be able to get additional yardage.
As I said the NFL is catering to high scoring and fantasy players. Those people want to see high scoring. Not everyone is happy that teams are having to eliminate the defense from the game. Basically they are limiting the ability for defenders making tackles from behind and some from the side. As JJ Watt posted "bring out the flag belts".
Also player safety goes both ways. If a runner is fighting for an extra yard with guys hanging all over him and then gets hurt, that's on the runner.
 
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Defensive penalties have ruined the NFL. Ticky tack crap most of it. In this case the runner is allowed to keep trying to gain yards but the defender has to give up his limited ability to stop a player. There are good changes to the game like crown of the helmet hit and horse tackle. However most new defensive penalties are to encourage higher scoring. The NFL is all about satisfying the gamblers and fantasy players.
Between this and Roughing the Passer penalties on legit sacks or an illegal contact penalty because the DBs fingertip brushed a folded crease of the WRs jersey while making an Int, what’s the point?
 
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A reason the low body tackles became more prevalent was the rule change penalizing upper body contact by defenders. People predicted there would be more knee injuries
 
A lot of peeps complain about the dainty trend in football but a lot of the same peeps cried about cut blocks whenever a service academy was on the schedule. The swivel-torqued, hip-drop is worse imo.
 
Between this and Roughing the Passer penalties on legit sacks or an illegal contact penalty because the DBs fingertip brushed a folded crease of the WRs jersey while making an Int, what’s the point?
The worst call I've seen in football (pro or college) in the last decade was when Rutgers had a linebacker penalized for targeting on a 4th and 1 run in the A-gap, where he made the tackle a yard deep in the backfield.
 
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Is this style something new? So if you grab a guy by the waist from behind you can't pull him down with your body weight any more??
Not exactly. You can't drop your body onto his legs below the knees in doing so. Now, the natural reaction to this is Wha? But when you see it, I think you might go, "Oh that! Yeah, that oughta be banned." This clip shows examples from rugby league, but it shows the general idea.

 
Not exactly. You can't drop your body onto his legs below the knees in doing so. Now, the natural reaction to this is Wha? But when you see it, I think you might go, "Oh that! Yeah, that oughta be banned." This clip shows examples from rugby league, but it shows the general idea.

Just watched about 10 examples from the NFL. Looks like a normal tackle, especially when a smaller defensive player is trying to bring down a bigger guy.

This is not going to end well for the NFL.

 
Just watched about 10 examples from the NFL. Looks like a normal tackle, especially when a smaller defensive player is trying to bring down a bigger guy.

This is not going to end well for the NFL.

Yeah, I’m sure people will stop watching because there is too much scoring.

maybe people will switch to soccer for those defensive battles.
 
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I think this is going to be very difficult for the officials and we'll be seeing a lot of things called and not called that will lead to WTF moments when we're watching games.
 
I think this is going to be very difficult for the officials and we'll be seeing a lot of things called and not called that will lead to WTF moments when we're watching games.
I think it’s the same as horse collar tackle. Essentially, you can only tackle players forward from the side or behind.
 
Horse collar is easy to see. It's where the tackler grabs the ball carrier.
If you tackle someone from the side or behind and cause the player to fall to the same side as the tackler, its a hip drop.
 
If you tackle someone from the side or behind and cause the player to fall to the same side as the tackler, its a hip drop.
As per AJ Hawk, most defensive players have never even heard of the term until the NFL started talking about it last year. It's just normal tackling. Try to tackle D Henry with all these vague rules and see what happens.
 
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I guess sports have to invent new terms occasionally. In baseball how many people ever heard of a pitch called a sweeper until a year or so ago.
 
As per AJ Hawk, most defensive players have never even heard of the term until the NFL started talking about it last year. It's just normal tackling. Try to tackle D Henry with all these vague rules and see what happens.
AJ Hawk hasn’t played football in the NFL since 2016. A lot has changed since.
 
So as you're tackling someone you need to be aware of both where you and the ball carrier land?
Can't have your head down. Can't drop weight onto them. And now, can't drop your weight to the ground.

I guess NFL tackles need to be standing bearhugs and hold them in place until the whistle blows? LOL!
 
No it hasn't. And JJ Watt said the same thing. So.....LOL!
Quick Google will tell you all the rule changes that started after 2016. All the defensive players will complaint because it makes their job harder.
 
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