The NFL Annual League Meeting this year featured some contentious announcements, one of which being the prohibition on hip-drop tackles for the current campaign.
It appears that there is a good deal of outrage about this, judging by the screams of “may as well just ban all tackles” and similar ones.
I’ll confess that there may be reason for alarm, even as the resident Buffalo Rumblings penalty nerd and frequent “ref apologist” for our website. However, let’s also refrain from acting out Chicken Little’s story.
What even is a hip-drop tackle?
I’ll be real candid with everyone here. Prior to this becoming a talking point about rules not that long ago, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what a hip-drop tackle is precisely. Further, the name alone didn’t tell me with any precision. It wasn’t until I read the league’s definition and saw examples that I felt like I knew exactly what they meant. I’m willing to wager many of you are/were in the same boat.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero shared the clip embedded below with examples of the technique, which is defined by the NFL as a tackle where the player “grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and 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.”
The NFL hasn’t released the full text of the new rule but, assuming it’s in line with the definition above, there are a couple key items to highlight. The first is the use of the term “swivel” and the second is the idea of landing on the runner’s legs. For the nerds like me, the suggestion here is the NFL wants to prohibit players from creating additional force via torsion directly into the runner’s legs where injuries are common in the sport and frequently devastating.
The Cat is Fine
Alternative techniques
One of the more common questions I get when defending a penalty is “what else was the player supposed to do?” Sometimes there’s no good answer other than “strict liability” like you’ve seen me cite in the past. In this case, there are a lot of good answers.
The hip-drop tackle contains several components as previously mentioned. That opens us a lot of options if a hip-drop tackle requires all of the components. Note: See the part below titled “The Cat is NOT Fine” for more information on where to find the components of the tackle. Defensive players won’t be flagged unless they land on the runner’s legs, assuming that all necessary components are present. It doesn’t seem like dropping the hip itself is prohibited; rather, only a particular set of results (swiveling into the legs) are.
Furthermore, there are lots of choices, even if players are ordered to refrain from lowering their hips totally. Even with side-by-side tackles, the same result would occur if the defender wrapped up and pulled the runner off their feet and sideways.
