Well, I heard some folks talkin’ ’bout this horse collar thing in that football game, the NFL. They was sayin’ it’s a penalty, somethin’ bad you ain’t supposed to do. I don’t know all the rules, but I seen enough games to know when somethin’ ain’t right. So, is horse collar a penalty in NFL? I reckon it still is.
They say it’s when you grab a fella by the back of his shoulder pads, you know, up near the neck, and yank him down. Sounds rough, don’t it? I seen it happen a few times, and it sure looks like it hurts. Poor fellas get all twisted up, like a pretzel. They say it’s dangerous. I can see that. If his knees are buckled by the action, it is a foul.
Now, why would they do that, you ask? Well, I guess it’s a way to stop a fella from runnin’ with the ball. If you can grab him and pull him down, he ain’t goin’ nowhere. But it ain’t right, I tell ya. It’s like trippin’ a fella when he’s runnin’ a race. Just ain’t fair. So that horse collar is a big no-no.
I heard them talkin’ on the TV ’bout how much money they lose when they do that horse collar. Seems like they get fined, like payin’ a punishment. And it’s a lot of money, too! More money than I ever seen in my whole life. They call it a “penalty,” and it means they lose yards on the field, too. Like takin’ steps backward. It is 15 yards!
- They say if you do it once, you get fined a heap of money.
- If you do it again, you get fined even more!
- And they say you can even get thrown outta the game for it!
And you know what else? If you are the team that got that penalty, your opponent gets to move forward on the field. It is like they are giving the other team a head start or something. They call it an automatic first down. I don’t know all the details, but it means the other team gets to start playing again right away, like they just got the ball.
I remember one time, I seen a fella do a horse collar tackle, and the other fella, the one who got tackled, he just laid there on the ground. Didn’t move a muscle. Scared me half to death! They had to bring out that little cart thingy and carry him off the field. He was hurt real bad. Broke some bones, I heard. The danger of the horse collar tackle is the way your body folds back on itself when you’re running at full speed. Generally a QB is not moving with a great deal of forward momentum in the pocket, so their body isn’t going to react the same way to being pulled backward.
So, that’s why they made that rule, I reckon. To keep the fellas safe. It’s a rough game, football. Lots of pushin’ and shovin’. But they gotta have some rules, I guess, to keep it from gettin’ too out of hand. They just want to keep the players safe.
Now, some folks say you can still grab a fella’s jersey, the shirt he’s wearin’, as long as you don’t grab the pads. I don’t know ’bout that. Seems to me like you could still yank a fella down pretty good by his jersey. But I ain’t no expert. I guess it is not allowed to pull the pads.
When is it a horse collar tackle? They say if you grab from the front or the top of the shoulder pads, it is still considered a horse collar. You know the collar up at the top, like a horse. I guess that is the name coming from. And I think if you pull just the jersey there, it is still a horse collar. It is like pulling them down from the front.
One thing I do know is that football is a complicated game. Lots of rules and regulations. Seems like they’re always changin’ ’em, too. Hard to keep up with it all. But I do know that horse collar is a penalty, and it ain’t right. You can’t be pulling players like that. You gotta play fair, even if it’s a rough game.
So, if you’re ever watchin’ a football game, and you see a fella get yanked down by the back of his pads, you’ll know what it is. It’s a horse collar, and it’s a penalty in the NFL. And now you know why, too. It’s just plain dangerous, and they’re tryin’ to keep them fellas from gettin’ hurt too bad. That’s all there is to it, really. Play fair and don’t hurt nobody, that’s what I always say.