Bill Belichick says there’s ‘no place’ for hip-drop tackle in the NFL

Bill Belichick sat down with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for a segment on the Pat McAfee Show.

During the appearance, Belichick and Goodell discussed their opinions on the hip-drop style tackle, which NFL teams voted unanimously to ban ahead of the upcoming-season.

“I think over the years, the NFL has done a great job of making the game safer for players – the targeting, the horse-collar tackle, the hip-drop,” Belichick said. “There really aren’t very many of them. I think there were maybe only a dozen or so of them last year, but it’s a good thing to get rid of.”

Goodell said he agreed with Belichick’s take, noting the amount of serious injuries that occur on hip drop tackles.

“We use data a lot to try to identify the rules that we want to change and whether what we do is effective,” Goodell said. “When you see a play that has more than 20 times the injury rate, and as you know most of those injuries are pretty severe – career-ending or season-ending, you’ve got to make a change. As you know, coach, players adjust and I think we’ve been able to make our game safer and more exciting at the same time.”

Some Patriots players, including offensive lineman David Andrews and safety Jabrill Peppers, have expressed concern about banning hip drop tackles in the past.

“It’s the defense’s job to tackle guys, and I don’t think people are doing that with malicious intent,” Andrews said last December. “Eventually, you keep taking away certain plays, taking away certain plays, taking away this, taking away that, what’s going to be left of the game?”

“Look, it’s an unfortunate reality of this game, and no one wants to see that,” Andrews added. “Guys on other teams don’t want to see guys get hurt. We don’t want to see guys get hurt. But it’s an unfortunate reality of playing in the NFL — playing football at any level.”

Peppers called the NFL “soft” and said he had questions about how the rule would be officiated.

“I don’t understand how the players have no say in any of these rule changes,” he wrote in a social media post last month. “While they’re at it, they need to change the name of whatever [we’re] playing cause this isn’t football anymore.”

Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson was injured on a hip-drop tackle against the Chargers last season. He missed the final five games of New England’s season after playing the first twelve.

While such tackles occur less frequently than others, that particular one cost the Patriots their starting running back for an extended period of time.

“There’s really no place for it and it’s good to continue to keep the game safe for the players,” Belichick said.