Rugby League in Australia banned hip drop tackles in 2023, and it would seem the NFL is following suit.

Here is the explanation from Rugby League:




And here is the almost the exact same explanation for the NFL rule:

The penalty should have to be a multi-step action. The tackle that injured Marc Andrews was a diving tackle and should not be a penalty I don't think. It was a single motion and he had left his feet before making contact.

It seems to me this should be a situation where a player gets to a tackle and is unable to make it, so instead of getting dragged they drop their weight onto the back of the runner's legs. Kind of like a horse collar. Or a late arriver to a gang tackle does it (that seems to be what happens a lot in the rugby videos). Simply leaving one's feet to make a tackle, no matter how the runner and defender land or whatever unfortunate injuries may occur, should be flagged.

Edit: full agreement that trying to enforce this is likely to be a disaster that, like targeting, ends up penalizing unfortunate results more than dangerous acts

is considered a hip drop tackle by the league, right? They've used it in their explanation videos and everything.

from that I understand, they don't want hip-swivel-drop tackles (not to be confused with simple hip drop tackles). What is a hip-swivel-drop tackle, you ask? Good question. From what I've been able to put together, they define that as a defender leaving his feet, swiveling his hips mid air, and then landing on the back of the offensive player's legs in an attempt to tackle him. A regular old hip drop tackle doesn't involve (apparently) leaving one's feet.

I believe that's the gist. Now, how are they going to properly enforce this issue, you say? Damn good question. From what I understand, they are going to lightly enforce this in games (no call unless it's blatant) and then the league will be reviewing things on a weekly basis and doling out fines. They realize that the current officials can't even be trusted to call blatant holding, OL downfield on passing plays, etc. so they aren't really going to really enforce it now, they're going to try and "teach technique it" out of the game.

They're really concerned about health and safety, you know. That's why they let players play on artificial turf that's been proven to lead to more injuries than grass.

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That doesn’t qualify at all. The player had already left his feet to initiate the tackle. Pretty garden variety “diving tackle”.

They’re trying to eliminate plays where the defender grabs hold, then leaves his feet to drag the player to the ground. I see a massive difference between the two.

Again, I just don’t see this is as particularly tough to identify.

then he "goes weightless" (per the wording of the rule) and lands on the back of the players legs (and then rolls off).

You trust these refs to get this correct, on a bang-bang play like that? When they can't even call blatant holding penalties? When they can't even properly spot the ball?

I most certainly do not. Now, do I think that right now they would throw the flag for it? No, I think that they'll let the league enforce via fines. But then, what's the purpose for having rules to begin with? I suppose we could ask that about damn near any penalty now, to be fair.

which have been taught as a way to "take the head out of the game" (Hawk tackling by Pete Carrol basically teaches the player to go to the side and use their momentum to the ground to take the player down), I pretty much agree with you.

Now, you pretty much can't touch the qb at all (and in the case of a guy like Mahomes, you can't breathe on him and his OL is allowed to hold every play), you can't hit wr's high over the middle, you can't tackle from the side while leaving your feet (causing more head on collisions), etc.

They create these rules to placate the people who hate football and think it's too dangerous and to cover their ass for potential lawsuits.

Thanks for nothing, pal. Warn a guy next time.

They're worse than Big Sugar.

And, I don’t think it’s as nebulous as people seem to think it is, or particularly impactful to the game.

The kind of hip drop tackle they’re targeting, which you describe, is fairly blatant IMO. Not only are you not driving through the ballcarrier with your legs, you’re leaving your feet entirely to drag a guy down solely with your momentum and body weight. As you noted, oftentimes intentionally landing on the back of the player’s legs to completely eliminate him in-place.

The idea is to be able to stop a guy’s forward progress immediately, even from the side or behind, rather than driving him 3 or 4 more yards downfield. It didn’t even exist as an available technique when I was playing rugby as a kid. I would’ve been dumbfounded someone would even think of such a thing if it were suggested in those days (from what I understand, the technique DOES now exist in rugby, too).

Tackling fundamentals have been perpetually abysmal in football for decades. Hopefully this will help defenses refocus on the basics.

but at the speed of the game, with the Mr. Magoos they have out there trying to make calls who can't even see blatant holding penalties? Not really. That's why they're going to try and fine their way out of it.

They ran about 15-20 plays out on a video that would be a penalty now, and I cannot make a clear determination on each one on the legal vs illegal moves.

it gets more attention and then loses its focus as the season moves along. Kind of like the flop in NCAAB that was called a couple years ago. It's still rule and I haven't seen it called the last year and a half.

That didn't look like a penalty to me either. Unfortunate, yes, but certainly not blatant.

...but on balance, I think it's a good idea. While it may be difficult to see at speed, the hip-drop tackle is basically a jujitsu technique that uses the tacklers weight to unbalance the ball carrier. It's a learned and practiced maneuver, not just something that happens in the heat of battle. The league is telling the teams that their defensive players need to "unlearn" the technique and take it out of their repertoire.

I view it as similar to the refinements to roughing-the-passer penalties to eliminate the most dangerous plays. Two examples in particular to come to mind. Defensive players used to sack QBs while deliberately allowing their full weight to compress the QB into the turf. In other cases, sometimes pass rushers that were either blocked or arriving late would lunge at a QB's lower legs to "put a lick" on them. Both types of hits were once thought to be legal ways that a defense could exhibit physicality or intimidation. Unfortunately, they could also lead to injury. When a blitzing Bernard Pollard dove at Tom Brady's knees early in the 2008 it cost Brady reconstructive surgery that ended his season. It might have ended his career. The league concluded pretty quickly that that type of hit had to go.

Similarly, we've seen the hip-drop technique injure a number of high-profile players recently. The Mark Andrews and Tony Pollard injuries have received a lot of recent attention. Patrick Mahomes got knocked out of a playoff game for a half and was hobbled in the AFC championship game and the Super Bowl because of a hip-drop tackle. When the NFL sees star offensive players put at risk of getting knocked out of games, they have no problem putting a greater burden on defenders to alter their approach.

Will the zebras screw this up? Of course, they will. But defenders will adjust until the technique withers away from the game.

the league will protect offensive players.

I do agree that the qb's needed to be protected from low hits; John Teerlinck was famous for actually teaching guys to do that when he was the DL coach in MN and it's one of the reasons that I dislike the Vikings to this day. It finally got so bad that when he had moved onto Detroit and kept teaching it, the league called him in for a meeting to tell him to knock it off. Still, it wasn't outlawed for another 10 years.

The full force on the qb is very tough to call properly and almost never is. It's a terrible rule and it's only a rule because Aaron Rodgers acted like a baby. The defenseless receiver rule is also tough to call but I understand why it is needed and I support it.

I do not believe that this hip swivel drop tackle is taught. Maybe I'm wrong. I also don't believe that it is always intentional; sometimes a big TE catches the ball over the middle and the pursuit coming from the side catches up but he drags them along and in the process, said pursuit loses his feet. His choice now appears to be to either let go and let him gain more yards/score or get a 15 yard penalty for using his body weight to take the guy down.

These assholes can't even call holding, and we're going way too far with this rule, IMO. Football is a dangerous game, I completely know and understand that. You can't try and make it danger free and still keep the essence of the game.

how the hell is this a penalty?

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As you said, they still can’t get the most basic penalty calls correct.