Tackling remains one of the fundamental skills in football, as it occurs on nearly every play. Rules exist to ensure the legality of all tackles performed during a game. Football players have the responsibility to tackle opponents in a legal manner, and the league’s officials have the responsibly to enforce these rules at all times.
Tackles
In football, defensive players must stop the offensive team by tackling the ball carrier. They can do so in almost any manner, although some exceptions do exist.
When making a tackle, the defensive player can grab his opponent’s jersey or body in an attempt to stop his forward process. This includes grabbing the player’s legs to trip him or hitting him with your shoulder.
The play stops once the defensive player has the offensive player on the ground or has stopped the offensive player from moving forward.
Why is tripping illegal in the NFL?
Tripping is the use of the leg or foot to obstruct any opponent, according to the NFL rulebook. Injury can be caused by tripping because the contact is unseen by the ball carrier. The Football Tripping Rule stems from Rugby, where tripping is illegal -- Illegal Tripping comes from the origin of American football!
The penalty for tripping by the defense is a loss of 10 yards and an automatic first down.
Offense
Offensive players cannot tackle players on the defense, unless the defensive player first gains possession of the ball.
An offensive lineman, for example, can use his hands to keep the defensive player in front of him, but he cannot drag that player to the ground, or the offensive player will be flagged for holding.
The holding penalty usually occurs as a defensive player approaches the quarterback, as the offensive lineman must do everything in his power to prevent a sack. Offensive holding results in a 10-yard penalty.
Other penalties by an Offensive player:
- Assisting the runner
- Interlocking interference
- Tripping
- Illegal use of hands, arms, or body
Dangerous Tackles
In some cases, players tackle opponents dangerously, which leads to a penalty.
A tackler receives a 15-yard penalty for:
- Unnecessary roughness for leading with his helmet
- For hitting an offensive player in the head during a tackle
- For tackling a player who's out of bounds
- For tackling a player after the whistle has blown.
Defenders receive 15-yard penalties for roughing the passer for tackling a quarterback after he throws the ball.
Defensive players are penalized 15 yards if they grab the back of a player's shoulder pads to make a tackle -- known as a "horse collar" tackle.
Players receive either a 5- or 15-yard penalty if they hold the face mask of a player's helmet when making a tackle.
NFL Tackle Rules for Defense
A rushing defender is prohibited from unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball, even if the rusher makes his initial contact with the passer within the one-step limitation.
When tackling a passer who is in a defenseless posture, during or after throwing a pass, a defensive player must not unnecessarily or violently throw him down and land on top of him with all or most of the defender’s weight. The defensive player must attempt to wrap up the passer with the defensive player’s arms.
Controversy
The NFL has implemented new tackling rules to protect its players, which led to the league handing out a number of fines.
Linebacker Jerome Harrison threatened to retire in 2010 because of these rules, since he did not know if he could still play the game effectively. The league fined Harrison for tackles that did not receive a penalty during the game, which blurs the line between legal and illegal tackles.
These tackles involved Harrison striking opposing players in the head with his helmet, causing injuries to two different players in one game.
Firstly, depends what you mean by ball carrier.
Once a player - including a quarterback - starts running towards the line of scrimmage with possession of the ball, or has caught the ball after a pass and had time to land and start running - they become a ball carrier and you can pretty much do anything you want to them within reason, except for:
- deliberately and forcefully hit him in the head or hit him anywhere with the crown (top) of your helmet (unnecessary roughness, 15 yard penalty)- trip him with your feet/legs - you have to tackle with your arms/upper body (tripping, 10 yard penalty)- hit him whilst he's on the floor (unnecessary roughness, 15 yard penalty). If a player goes to ground without being tackled, you need to touch them so that they're down by contact, but it's a penalty to jump on top of them.- grab his facemask, even a little bit (illegal use of the hands, 15? yard penalty).
In turn, the ball carrier is allowed to push you away with his free hand (called 'stiff-arming') - including in the helmet area (as long as it's a push, and not a punch!), jump over you (hurdling), or barge into you with his shoulder (not helmet!) and try to knock you out of the way (trucking).
A quarterback in possession of the ball behind the line of scrimmage who's not running (or is running sideways to try to get away from a defender and throw the ball, called scrambling) is protected quite a lot more - some would say too much. You're not allowed to hit him in the head even a little bit, even accidentally. If you tackle him before he throws (called a 'sack') you're not allowed to land on him with all of your weight (if you're form tackling him you have to roll awkwardly to the side, or... I dunno... levitate somehow? They didn't really think this one through). You can also get penalised for hitting him harder than you needed to in the ref's opinion.
Once he's thrown the ball, you're not allowed to hit him AT ALL, even accidentally, even a little bit. If the referee thinks you had time to stop after he threw the ball and you chose not to and hit him anyway, it'll be a penalty for roughing the passer (15 yards). Some referees seem to think you can stop a 270lb body mid-flight instantly, like in a Roadrunner cartoon, which is fun for all.
For the players without the ball, it depends a little bit on if there's a passing play or running play.
On passing plays, offensive linemen (and sometimes the TE and/or RB) will try to stop defensive players from getting to their quarterback. The linemen are usually not rushing downfield, they're sitting back a bit and waiting for the defence to come to them.
After the ball has been thrown on a passing play, nobody is allowed to start blocking anyone more than 1 yard downfield (refs are a bit lenient with this measurement these days, 2-3 yards is usually fine). Once you're engaged with blocking someone, you can continue pushing your guy down field as far as you want, but you can't start blocking anyone else more than 1yd from the line of scrimmage whilst the ball is in the air or in the QB's hands. Once the ball has been caught, it effectively becomes a running play.
On running plays, the offensive players (often including WRs) will try to move the defensive players out of the way or stop them from filling the 'gaps' that have been created, to make holes for the running back to run through. Unlike a passing play, when the ball is being carried you ARE allowed to block downfield however far you want beyond the line of scrimmage.
The basic rule when it comes to holding is, you're allowed to block (including grabbing the FRONT of their shirt) as long as the opposing player is directly in front of you. You can hold them in front of you and move around to keep yourself in front and keep the defender away from your QB. The defender, for his part, will be trying to swipe your hands away and get around you or "bull rush" you backwards.
As soon as they've gotten past you and aren't directly in front of you any more, you have to stop grabbing them (you're still allowed to push them a bit and try to get back in front of them, you're just not allowed to hold on to them once they've beaten you). If you keep grabbing hold of a player's jersey once he's gotten past you, or you wrap your arms around him in a bearhug, or grab hold of his leg, that's holding. 5 yard penalty.
Also, you're never allowed to block someone in the back under any circumstances (illegal block in the back, 10 yards). If they're facing away from you, you can't really do much at all to them other than try to get back in front of them.
If a lineman knocks you over on your ass while legally blocking you (a pancake block) and you grab hold of him as you fall down - that's holding. Likewise, "tackling" someone who doesn't have the ball is holding.
Note: the defence can be called for holding too. Usually on running plays. You'll often see two offensive linemen blocking the same defender (double-team block), and one of them will then run upfield to block a linebacker - if the original defender grabs him to try to stop him doing that, it's still holding.