So many of today’s players are wearing their hair long outside the back of their helmets. I saw this last weekend a player tackled the runner by grabbing him by his hair. No penalty on the play. Is this legal?
Clowney did it when he was on the Texans last year to a RB for Buffalo and there was no penalty.
It’s no penalty. Screw that noise. Those hippies need a haircut.
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Think I saw that play too. Totally legal. Hair is not part of the helmet and fair game.
This was the one I saw. Best hair tackle I’ve ever seen in fact…
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I looked this up a while back, and yes it’s a legal tackle.
Hair tackle is more dangerous than horse collar, in my opinion. Just look at the way the head snaps back when someone grabs someone else by the back of the hair!
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I think it is considered to be part of the uniform. Same as grabbing the jersey. IMO dreads should not be legal.
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You are completely correct. A couple years ago it was ruled as part of the jersey. I can’t remember the bylaw but I actually looked it up because I didn’t believe it.
I’m with you, dreadlocks should be illegal. I was talking about this at work and of course some people started to play the race card. It has nothing to do with that at all. I watched a game where a guy had so many dreads that his helmet would not fit properly and his helmet came off literally seven times in the game. He had to come out every time his helmet came off.
It wasn’t because the straps weren’t correct, or he got hit hard, or whatever. It was because his helmet would not fit properly because the helmet wasn’t the right size because it had to accommodate for all the extra hair/dreads that he had. It’s a safety hazard and it should be outlawed.
the best answer would be to have break away dreads that end up in the defenders hands as the runner heads for the end zone
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If it was illegal to hair tackle everyone would be going all Cousin It up in here
Dreadlocks are considered part of the uniform.
Here is the problem. Some players might think it is safer than having long hair. Just think of the probability of a player suffering a head/body injury due to a dreadlock. Because it is there as an additional “tackling” area you just increase your chance of being tackled. It is equally valid for players with long hair. Why take the chance? Because you might look cool? Is increasing your chance of being injured cool?
We all know of the NFL uniforms rules. An untucked jersey does not increase the chance of injury. Dreadlocks do.
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Simple solution…cut your hair
Could you imagine Butkus, Singletary or Lambert…they’d have swung you around like a WWF Death Cage match
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So Samson couldn’t play football?
If a player wants to have long hair and run the risk of getting tackled by it, I don’t see why that’s a particular problem letting them make that choice.
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What if…
Long hair makes the player more susceptible to injury?
Lone hair makes it more likely he can be brought down than if he did not have long hair?
Seems players would be concerned if their personal choices adversely affected the team on the field.
I do realize that length of hair is a personal choice and most coaches would tend to support the player still…
If the coaches/team want to have a rule that a player can’t have hair that goes below their neck, that’s fine. Those coaches/teams can evaluate whether potentially losing out on a player who wants to keep their hair long over the slight increase in risk of injury/lost yards or just wanting everyone to have short hair for uniformity is worth it. I wouldn’t think it’s worth it to have a rule like that, but some may disagree. But I don’t think it’s particularly justifiable to have a league-wide/NCAA-wide rule prohibiting it.
Trevon Stewart got tackled by his hair one time on a sure pick 6.
He’s not a lizard. 