One difference I see is that a horsecollar is pretty much a horsecollar. It's difficult to accidentally horsecollar a guy. Possible, sure (we've probably all seen it happen), but when a defender realizes he's got the wrong grip, he can quickly let go and at least have a chance to avoid the flag. Like an accidental facemask.Originally Posted by sharpe1027
But with this "hip drop" tackle, I can see a number of ways for a defender to partially lose his grip and slide down a bit while the ballcarrier struggles to break free, and the tackler to land on the lower legs without being able to do anything to stop it. Or a perfectly clean, legal tackle where the tackler and ballcarrier just fall awkwardly, and pow! 15 yards and an automatic first down. And there's not a thing the tackler can do at that point, even let go.
It's not like that's going to happen frequently, but it will happen. And at some point, it's going to cost a team a game. Fans are going to be pissed, the refs will be torched in the press, and people will accuse the league of fixing games. If it does significantly improve player safety, then that's obviously not an all-bad thing. I'm just skeptical that the unintended consequences won't backfire and outweigh the good it does.
Edit: But then again, maybe this is all a big noise about nothing at all. A lot of people in the thread obviously think so; I can't say they're wrong, and there's at least as good a chance that they're right as there is that I'm right. We'll know in a few months. I'm just really damned skeptical of every single thing the league does these days - every single time, it seems to come down (in some way) to making more money for the billionaires as opposed to actually making a better product for the fans. And the game usually seems to wind up somewhat worse for it. I just don't trust Roger Goodell any further than I could spit a burning porcupine.
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