MaineMoxie Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 This may be a dumb question, but is it legal, if a runner stiff-arms a defender, for the defender to grab the arm and yank the guy to the ground? If it is, why don't more defenders do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offside Number 76 Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 This may be a dumb question, but is it legal, if a runner stiff-arms a defender, for the defender to grab the arm and yank the guy to the ground? If it is, why don't more defenders do it? A good stiff-arm would be to the shoulder of the defender. That would make it tough for the defender to maneuver like you suggest. There is nothing illegal about dragging a ball-carrier to the ground using his arm, though, and I think you'll see that a few sacks each year are accomplished that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimp Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 This may be a dumb question, but is it legal, if a runner stiff-arms a defender, for the defender to grab the arm and yank the guy to the ground? If it is, why don't more defenders do it? I think it might have something to do with a good stiff arm might catch a defender off guard. The defender really needs to anticipate in order to get a hold of said arm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 This may be a dumb question, but is it legal, if a runner stiff-arms a defender, for the defender to grab the arm and yank the guy to the ground? If it is, why don't more defenders do it? My question has always been in the reverse..why is it okay for the runner to stiff arm a gu in the face mask??Is that not illegal hands to the face? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaineMoxie Posted December 21, 2010 Author Share Posted December 21, 2010 My question has always been in the reverse..why is it okay for the runner to stiff arm a gu in the face mask??Is that not illegal hands to the face? Yeah, I've wondered that myself. There was a replay on Sunday at one point that showed one of the Fins with his hand practically inside Kyle Williams' helmet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOBILLS78 Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 It's not easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreReed83 Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 My question has always been in the reverse..why is it okay for the runner to stiff arm a gu in the face mask??Is that not illegal hands to the face? I'm pretty sure that it is illegal for a RB to GRAB the defender by the facemask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ (not THAT RJ) Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 I'm pretty sure that it is illegal for a RB to GRAB the defender by the facemask. It is indeed. And it is called every so often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Fong Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 Ever tried to grab and take down a heavily muscled guy running full steam by the arm? Doesn't work out too well. You can do it if you get the right grip and keep the leverage advantage, but it's much easier to just tackle properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hplarrm Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 Ever tried to grab and take down a heavily muscled guy running full steam by the arm? Doesn't work out too well. You can do it if you get the right grip and keep the leverage advantage, but it's much easier to just tackle properly. On target. My understanding is that good tackling technique is to hit the runner as squarely as you can in his body and wrap up around his body to bring him down. If a tackler instead engaged as you suggested, the runner almost always wins the battle as the tackler is focusing on the opponents arm. As by definition in this example, the RB has taken the initiative in being able to launch a stiff arm. Now add to that the defender trys to act on the suggestiong in this thread to attempt to pull the runner down by his arm. As pointed out above the tackler has responded to the initiative of the stiff arm by giving the runner the leverage advantage of trying to grab that arm rather than attack the body. Its seems like a conceptually simple matter of ju jitsu to fend off the attempts to arm tackle by using what is sometimes called a swim move to fend off this arm tackle and head off down field. None of this is simple since we are talking about 250 pound bolts of greased lightening but the keys here are initiative (by definition in this example the runner delivers a blow with the stiff arm (the force of this jab is added to by the force of the tackler heading towards it. Add to his initiative, the runner now has leverage as he chose the time, location, and force of the stiff arm and his job is to detect how the tackler is absorbing it and then have his body react in a manner that finds the best point of leverage to at least fend off the tackler (who again in your example is playing with the arm rather than taking the body and wrapping up as players are taught to do. Its no wonder we have seen some vicious stiff arms where the RB uses his initiative and gift of leverage provided by the tackler trying to perform an arm tackle in your example of the RB simply forcing the tackler to the ground. Its simply physics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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