The NFL banned the horse-collar tackle in 2005 after seeing a rash of injuries on similar plays over the years. The “Roy Williams Rule” took some time to be consistently implemented into the game, but it’s a clear and obvious penalty at this point. Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Marcus Peters used a tackle like this with seven minutes left in the third quarter.
The tackle occurred on a broken play where Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson had 53 yards of runway and only Peters in front of him. Peters took him by the collar and brought him down at the 6-yard line. In a 10-10 ball game, they saved a touchdown, and Green Bay ended up settling for a field goal on the drive and wound up losing the game 17-13.
It was a game-saving personal foul penalty, and the social media world is absolutely nettled over it.
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Social Media Reacts to the Marcus Peters Horse-Collar Tackle
This horsecollar tackle effectively won us the game…crazy pic.twitter.com/75EfN5S1Lj
— JT (@CondorSZN) October 10, 2023
League needs to change that rule, it should automatically be ruled a TD & player commuting the foul should be ejected. The fact that the Raiders HC said it was the right thing to do, that makes the play even worse since he’s aware that it gave them the W.
— Tito🤙🏽 (@ohhitstito) October 10, 2023
by the way, that wasn't a real horse collar penalty. Grabbing his collar is not endangering a player's health. The dead weight of the body behind it should be the penalty. Nobody understands this rule.
— Bob Sturm (@SportsSturm) October 10, 2023
Fandom isn’t even-keeled. There is no objectivity when looking through the lens of fandom. Cheeseheads want an auto-TD for the tackle, and Raiders fans are just happy their team would go on to win an ugly game … even if they should probably be rooting for an implosion and a top-five draft pick.
MORE: PFN Life — Off-the-Field Content
Bob Sturm is a DFW-area sports radio host revered for his in-depth film analysis of the Dallas Cowboys, first with The Athletic and now on his own. But he is also openly a Packers “fan.” But when football is one’s profession (and they are an unbiased reporter/analyst), traditional fandom takes a back seat to objective analysis.
What Is the Rule?
Sturm is correct. This wasn’t the normal horse-collar tackle we’re accustomed to seeing. But the NFL Operations video on the subject is black and white. Rule 12, Section 2, Article 16 is crystal clear.
“No player shall grab the inside collar of the back or the side of the shoulder pads or jersey, or grab the jersey at the name plate or above, and pull the runner toward the ground. This does not apply to a runner who is in the tackle box or to a quarterback who is in the pocket.”
Note: It is not necessary for a player to pull the runner completely to the ground in order for the act to be illegal. If his knees are buckled by the action, it is a foul, even if the runner is not pulled completely to the ground.”
Why Was This Tackle Different?
There is no argument against this being a correctly called penalty. But buckling knees are what the spirit of the rule is here to legislate against. It is very dangerous for a player’s knees to buckle and for the tackler’s weight to land on the lower legs.
Watson’s knees don’t even hinge outside of normal range as a runner during the tackle, and Peters hardly pulls him to the ground.
"I talked to Marcus. It's the right penalty."
– Raiders coach Josh McDaniels on Marcus Peters' horse-collar tackle that prevented a TD pic.twitter.com/pImThav67A
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 10, 2023
Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels said, “I talked to Marcus (Peters), it’s the right penalty.”
What did he mean by this? Essentially, because Peters made the horse-collar tackle, he prevented a touchdown on that drive. Had Peters not made that kind of tackle on Watson, he likely gets into the end zone and the result of the game might be different.
For McDaniels and the Raiders, this was a good penalty.
Hypocrisy in NFL Rules
Riddle me this, Batman…
In a game against the New York Jets in 2003, Ricky Williams was pulled down by his hair. After the game, the NFL ruled that hair was part of a player’s uniform and that it was legal to tackle a player by their locs.
But, as one can see from the NFL’s own rule, grabbing the jersey at the nameplate or above is also a horse-collar tackle. In the end, the rule is supposedly in place to protect the players from knee-buckling tackles.
The two tackles have similar, if not identical, consequences.
There are a ton of bad rules in the league. There are good rules implemented poorly. But few are as obviously hypocritical as this. A player’s hair should be off-limits.
