Ex-Falcons GM dismisses “consistency” concerns with hip-drop crackdown after injuries to Tyreek Hill and Mark Andrews
On Monday, March 25, the NFL banned the "hip drop" tackle for defensive players.
As the league looks to continue to make the game safer, it decided to ban the tackle after many players suffered injuries due to the tackle in recent years. Some favor the league banning the tackle (offensive players), while others (defensive players) oppose the rule change.
Former Atlanta Falcons executive Scott Pioli joined "Good Morning Football" Tuesday morning and gave his take on the league banning the tackle. He thinks that as long as players are properly taught how to tackle, the NFL shouldn't completely ban the hip drop.
"The next thing was going to be the inception or the finding of this new kind of tackle, the hip drop tackle," Piolo said. "And to me, it's a tackle. It's so unnecessary. As long as we teach players how to tackle better.
"And to me, the players that are complaining about this or the players association having a problem with this, they say it's their concern about the consistency of the ruling. But to me that's not a reason to keep it out of the game."
There have been injuries to star players such as Mark Andrews and Tyreek Hill last season due to the 'hip drop' tackle.
Here are the two videos of Andrews and Hill suffering injuries from the tackle:
Rich McKay defends the NFL's decision to ban the 'hip drop' tackle
Not everyone is a fan of the NFL banning the 'hip drop' tackle. Many defenders have complained about the rule change, as they will be penalized if they use that form of tackle.
Rich McKay, who is a chair member of the NFL Competition Committee, defended the rule change on Monday in a press conference.
"We have an obligation from a health and safety standpoint to protect players when there's unreasonable risk of injury," McKay said. "And in this one, there's pure data that it's an unreasonable risk of injury. So that's why we changed it.
"We made a lot of rule proposals and changes over the year on health and safety. And sometimes, they're looked at as though you're making the game softer. I just don't agree with that at all. I believe you're trying to make the game safer."
Players who use the 'hip drop' tackle will be penalized 15 yards if caught committing it on offensive players. Defensive players will have to adjust to not using this tackle starting this season.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit "GMFB," Scott Pioli and H/T Sportskeeda.