Field Gulls
We have a first in NFL history: a suspension due to repeated violations of the “hip-drop tackle.” The final straw was a tackle on the Seattle Seahawks’ superstar Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Washington Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu has been ruled out for Week 10 against the Detroit Lions for this third infraction, although not a single one of those tackles was penalized at the time. The NFL has instead opted for fines as a means of punishment.
Here’s the tackle on JSN, which to be completely honest, I would not have even blinked as far as calling this an illegal play.
The NFL rulebook states that “It is a foul if a player uses the following technique to bring a runner to the ground: (a) grabs the runner with one or both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and (b) unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and/or trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.”
This is the second time a Seahawks game has raised attention in terms of the hip-drop tackle. Before such a rule existed, Geno Smith was brought down by Isaiah Simmons on a tackle Smith deemed a “dirty play.”
It turns out this was one of the plays cited when the NFL outlawed the hip-drop tackle.
Even if the one on JSN is iffy and not something anyone would really be up in arms about in real time, it seems like Luvu’s other violations were justifiable fines. Whether we get to a point where the NFL legislates with actual in-game penalties is a different story.
