The NFL Has Made it Impossible to Tackle

The hip drop tackle was banned from the NFL in an unanimous vote on Monday:

The NFL has banned the hip-drop tackle, source said. The Competition Committee was unanimous on it.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 25, 2024

So we’re going to give more power to decide a game to a bunch of part-time employees that already can’t keep up with the speed of the game? Beautiful job by the NFL. I can’t wait for a big game to be decided by a hip drop tackle on 4th down. I don’t even think the reaction to the NFL becoming flag football is some over-the-top macho bullshit. Football is a dangerous game. Injuries unfortunately happen every single year. They’re a part of it. Defense is already tough when you’re chasing Tyreek Hill and trying to bring down AJ Brown on a slant. Now it’ll be even tougher.

If the hip drop tackle was easy to spot, it would be one thing. Apparently they want refs to look for a specific tackle. Good thing refs are already very good at discerning what is and isn’t roughing the passer:

Rich McKay making it clear multiple times there’s a difference between a hip-drop tackle and the swivel hip-drop tackle. The defensive player lifting himself off the ground and using his weight to fall on the offensive player is what they’re working to eliminate. https://t.co/gnSmMDwaGn

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 25, 2024

Here’s the video the NFL just showed in a press conference of what are now banned swivel hip-drop tackles (with NFL executive Jeff Miller speaking in the background). pic.twitter.com/Y4H8h6pQkW

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 25, 2024

More good news: There’s no way for the refs practice the call either in training camp:

Competition committee chair Rich McKay says officials will be told they can call penalties for swivel hip-drop tackle but they must see all three elements, including unweighting into legs. Also notes there’s no way to get reps officiating it, since it doesn’t happen in practice. https://t.co/nYJtC2JAyA

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 25, 2024

Amazing idea from the NFL. The players are already responding:

It’s about to be a lot of miss tackles

— Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) March 25, 2024

I guess we are playing flag at this point https://t.co/2LOI10AT4d

— Justin Simmons (@jsimms1119) March 25, 2024

Other rules that were and weren’t passed….

The Eagles’ 4th and 20 alternative in lieu of an onside kick rule doesn’t pass again:

The #Eagles’ proposed fourth-and-20 alternative to the onside kick did not pass, again.

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 25, 2024

The No Fun League continues. The first time a team pulled this one out would be amazing. Could you imagine if they did it in the middle of the game? The coach might be murdered or praised on site. My heart would be in my throat during it. It would be a lot better than the onside kick which has a worse success rate than Shohei Ohtani’s gambling record.

Teams get a third challenge if they are successful on one challenge. It’s fitting that Andy Reid is the picture on this tweet:

New rule change: The NFL has approved giving a team a third challenge if they get one of their first two correct. It used to be that you must get both correct to earn a third challenge, but now getting 1 out of 2 correct grants you an additional challenge. pic.twitter.com/WET7Oa9Q7a

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) March 25, 2024

Who asked for this? I feel like the NFL had this rule pretty much perfect. If you hit on both challenges you should be rewarded another. It’s a skill and adds to the strategy of the game. Now all teams have to do is get one right and they automatically get a third one? That’s dumb. Coaches who are smarter than other coaches should be rewarded more opportunities to win the game then others.

Roughing the passer calls are now reviewable:

The competition committee has long opposed challenges to penalty calls because it essentially substitutes one person’s judgment for another’s. This is much more narrow, but another step toward empowering the replay assistant to fix clear and obvious mistakes.

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 25, 2024

After watching four straight days of college basketball I think I’ve come to the conclusion that we have too much replay in our lives. The refs went to the monitor a handful of times in the last minute in what felt every game I watched. It completely ruins the flow. I’m starting to think I rather them just get the call wrong instead of waking up Gene Steratore from his nap just to agree with whatever the refs call. When they’re reviewing it and not even getting it right I think maybe it’s just time we get rid of it altogether:

Should this be NC State ball or Oakland’s ball? Refs ended up giving the ball to NC State. pic.twitter.com/Rz2cROk358

— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) March 24, 2024

I mean we make that reviewable, but not this?

#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/vUUPmZlcZi

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 22, 2024

My prediction is that hip drop tackles will decrease, but they’ll be legal again next year or downright abandoned a la the pass interference challenges that weren’t even worth throwing the flag eight games in.

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