While the new hybrid kickoff rule received most of yesterday’s attention, the league also banned the swivel hip-drop tackle; however, head coach Mike Tomlin says don’t expect the change to lead to many flags on Sundays. Rather, the league expects to use fines as a principle means of enforcement.
“The way it’s been described to me repeatedly by the officiating department is this rule is not gonna put more flags on the field”, Tomlin said on SiriusXM yesterday. “I don’t anticipate this thing being called a lot, to be quite honest with you”.
Tomlin compared it to the use-of-helmet rule that RB Jaylen Warren so loathes. While the league sparsely called this penalty in-game, Warren and others received numerous fines after the fact. It’s an interesting shift in which the NFL is trying to remove behaviors from the game through the wallet.
“New York requested an avenue to address this in New York for those that utilize it as a tactic”, Tomlin said. “If there’s someone out there utilizing this as a tactic, which hurts players and causes people to miss a significant amount of time, by making it a rule, we’ve empowered New York to attack those instances”.
Tomlin stressed, “None of us want to see more flags on the field, and particularly none of us want to see this over-officiated, but I’ve been assured that that’s not gonna be the case”.
Generally speaking, nobody wants to see more flags in today’s game, the overall pace slow enough as it is. The swivel hip-drop tackle, nevertheless, is a dangerous play that results in defenders falling on the lower extremities. The relatively high rate of injury sparked an impetus to address the tactic this offseason by the league.
I think the promise of a marginal in-game impact is a relatively safe middle ground for addressing the play. In my experience, fan approval of such a rule was mixed at best, perhaps favoring hostility toward the idea. Still, fans are going to want the officials to throw a flag when a hip-drop tackle injures their key player. I’m sure Tomlin wants the same for his players.
Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II noted in his support of the rule that they lost RB Le’Veon Bell to a hip-drop tackle injury in 2015. Surprise, surprise, but Cincinnati Bengals ILB Vontaze Burfict recorded the tackle. It’s interesting to see the play again in hindsight, but I don’t recall mention of “hip-drop tackles” back then.
Many defenders spoke out against banning the play, including new Steelers ILB Patrick Queen. A former Raven, he witnessed multiple teammates suffer injuries via a hip-drop tackle by Bengals ILB Logan Wilson last season.
The principal argument against banning the play is the fact that in some situations it’s nearly impossible to make a play without a hip-drop tackle. Prioritizing fines over flags to officiate it, as Tomlin indicates, should offer a better viewing experience, even if it does players’ wallets no favors.
