NFL could soon ban tackling technique it says creates '25 times' the injury risk

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

NEW YORK — Momentum is building for the NFL’s next on-field rule change.

The league’s competition committee, as well as its health and safety committee, are discussing how to respond to a tackling technique that their data says “results in about a 25 times rate of injury as a typical tackle,” executive vice president Jeff Miller said.

The league calls the tackle in question a “hip-drop tackle.” If that doesn’t clarify the play to you, you’re not alone. The league is trying to better define what does and doesn’t constitute it.

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NFL competition committee chair Rich McKay called the tackle a “cousin” to the horse-collar tackle, which consists of grabbing the inside collar of the back or side of an opponent’s shoulder pads or jersey, or the jersey at the name plate or above, to pull a runner toward the ground. A hip-drop tackle similarly involves a tackler grabbing a ball carrier from behind and pulling him down in a manner that prevents self-defense.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-could-soon-ban-tackling-technique-it-says-creates-25-times-the-injury-risk-050441627.html

[yankee87]

1. Football Injuries

Anything they can do to make it safer. I'm 6' 9", and over 300 pounds, so of course I played the line. I was blocked at my knees almost every play, and my knees are paying the price. Those types of blocks are now illegal.

[LudwigPastorius]

2. So, if a defender is chasing someone down from behind, and...

all they can grab is the ball carrier's waist to pull him down, that is going to be illegal?

Are you telling me that the only way to tackle from behind is now going to be above the waist (but not by the shoulder pads)?

That would fundamentally alter the game and give the offense a big advantage.

[True Dough]

3. But nothing about artificial turf and the benefits of natural grass?

Just a bunch of torn ACLs and MCLs that occur at far too high a rate? No problem there, eh NFL?

[ProfessorGAC]

4. There's Also A Hypothesis That...

...hamstring injuries may be facilitated by the excessive traction on the trailing leg.
I haven't seen an update, but there was talk of it a couple years ago. Synthetic tracks for sprinters were suspected as well.