The Horse Collar Tackle

[Sir Purrcival]

I haven 't seen any mention of it today but on the play where Skillern made a big catch, which was called back by penalty. He was totally horse collared on the play or so I thought. Is that not a penalty? I though I saw something similar last week in one of the LD games as well. I thought the league had instituted a new rule after the Tony Simmons debacle in Sask a couple of years back.

[Big Time]

I thought the same thing and was surprised it wasn't called. Wonder if Skillern hasn't been around in the league long enough to "earn" that call.

[pennw]

I agree , it looked to me like a horse collar too . They called the holding but let that go . That was a great play by Skillern , too bad it got called back .

[B.C.FAN]

I haven 't seen any mention of it today but on the play where Skillern made a big catch, which was called back by penalty. He was totally horse collared on the play or so I thought. Is that not a penalty? I though I saw something similar last week in one of the LD games as well. I thought the league had instituted a new rule after the Tony Simmons debacle in Sask a couple of years back.

I thought the same thing but didn't see a replay to verify whether it was a horse collar. I've seen a couple of tackles in the past week that I thought were horse collars but, on replay, were shown to be legal tackles.

[Wakesbetterthanyou]

i already rewatched the game, it was definatly a horse collar....i also remember yelling at the ref while watching the game.

[Soundy]

Guess you haven't been around the league long enough for the refs to listen to you

[cromartie]

Let me add my voice to this one. I saw the same thing and did not have the benefit of a solid replay. I'd like something from the league, or some video, on that.

[DanoT]

I think the call is made based on the violence of the hit more than the position of the defenders hands.

[pennw]

I think the call is made based on the violence of the hit more than the position of the defenders hands.

From what I recall , he did yank Skillern right backward by the collar , that's enough to injure and the reason it's supposed to be a penalty . To me it almost seemed they over looked it because of the down and out postition the Ti-cats were in , in the game as well as in the season .

[Hambone]

Horse collar is defined as:

Rule 7 - Fouls and Penalties
Section 2 - Major Fouls
Article 3 Unnecessary Roughness
A player shall be penalized for any act of unnecessary roughness against an opponent, including but not limited to:

j) Tackling an opponent by grabbing the inside collar of the side or back of the shoulder pads.

I was just reviewing the replays on TSN VOD on my computer which doesn't compare to watching it at the time on a honking big 52" wide screen in HD. Given the lack of quality it wasn't "indisputable evidence" one way or the other. The last replay sequence definitely showed Skillern's jersey being stretched away but I can't tell if the defender had his shoulder pads as well. Keep in mind by rule the key item for a horse collar infraction is the shoulder pads, not the jersey. If the Ti-Cat defender only had a mittful of Skillern's jersey there was no penalty. Pulling an opponent down by grabbing only the collar of his jersey is not illegal. The player must pull his opponent down by grabbing the collar of the shoulder pads to be penalized.

[Rammer]

Horse collar is defined as:

Rule 7 - Fouls and Penalties
Section 2 - Major Fouls
Article 3 Unnecessary Roughness
A player shall be penalized for any act of unnecessary roughness against an opponent, including but not limited to:

j) Tackling an opponent by grabbing the inside collar of the side or back of the shoulder pads.

I was just reviewing the replays on TSN VOD on my computer which doesn't compare to watching it at the time on a honking big 52" wide screen in HD. Given the lack of quality it wasn't "indisputable evidence" one way or the other. The last replay sequence definitely showed Skillern's jersey being stretched away but I can't tell if the defender had his shoulder pads as well. Keep in mind by rule the key item for a horse collar infraction is the shoulder pads, not the jersey. If the Ti-Cat defender only had a mittful of Skillern's jersey there was no penalty. Pulling an opponent down by grabbing only the collar of his jersey is not illegal. The player must pull his opponent down by grabbing the collar of the shoulder pads to be penalized.

That is what I saw, complete jersey pull, not an infraction by definition of the rules you have submitted here. Just an awkward looking tackle and one that did affect Skillern, as it did have a horse collar type impact, although not to the same degree.

[Sir Purrcival]

Well if that is the case, then it is a rule that needs to be altered somewhat. That tackle had every bit the the serious injury potential as did the Simmons tackle. It still folds you backwards leaving the knees and legs vulnerable.

[pennw]

I think the manner in which he went back wards shows what kind of a tackle it was . If the video doesn't clearly show where his hand was , I think the impact does . No way a tackler could get that strong a grip on a jersey from behind with one hand( maybe Big T could , but no one else) to send a receiver back like that with the momentum Skillern had unless the hand was inside the collar . If not inside the collar the jersey would have slipped free of the tacklers grip and Skillern would have gone into the endzone .

[Hambone]

I think the manner in which he went back wards shows what kind of a tackle it was . If the video doesn't clearly show where his hand was , I think the impact does . No way a tackler could get that strong a grip on a jersey from behind with one hand( maybe Big T could , but no one else) to send a receiver back like that with the momentum Skillern had unless the hand was inside the collar . If not inside the collar the jersey would have slipped free of the tacklers grip and Skillern would have gone into the endzone .

Oh I think you'd be surprised how easily a defender can haul a player down with one hand on a jersey. Why do you think tearaway jerseys were so popular until they were eliminated?

[Rammer]

I think the manner in which he went back wards shows what kind of a tackle it was . If the video doesn't clearly show where his hand was , I think the impact does . No way a tackler could get that strong a grip on a jersey from behind with one hand( maybe Big T could , but no one else) to send a receiver back like that with the momentum Skillern had unless the hand was inside the collar . If not inside the collar the jersey would have slipped free of the tacklers grip and Skillern would have gone into the endzone .

Oh I think you'd be surprised how easily a defender can haul a player down with one hand on a jersey. Why do you think tearaway jerseys were so popular until they were eliminated?

Wake also applied a one handed jersey tackle on a RB during the game, the only difference being the area of jersey grabbed.