Origin of the Horse Collar

In this edition of our look at the history of the rules of the gridiron, we examine the horse collar rule, what it is, why it was created and where it can evolve from its current state. Warning there is some opinion from your host contained within!

The history of the horse collar rule is relatively short and modern. It has sometimes been called Roy William's Rule after the famous Dallas Cowboy Safety, who was known to use the illegal technique after the rule was created to penalize and thus discourage it. The rule against the horse collar tackle, where a player is pulled down from behind by grabbing the uniform near the neck, was enacted in May 2005 after three such tackles by Williams in the 2004 season and another in preseason caused injuries.

Dallas Cowboys safety Roy Williams grabbed then Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis in the first quarter of their NFL game at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, September 19, 2005. Thus, Williams was suspended for one game for committing his third horse-collar tackle of the season, the National Football League said.

The NFL made the penalty for an offense of horse collar tackling a 15-yard personal foul in 2005. The horse collar rule first went into effect in college in 2008, and a year later, the high school level's most prevalent governing rules body for football, the NFHS, instituted the rule in 2009.

The horse collar rules are one that have been tweaked and expiramented with quite a bit in the last couple of decades. The rule is intended to prevent injuries to ball carriers that are abruptly halted by an opponent grasping the inside of their shirts and upper shoulder pads. The jerking motion caused by the collar tackle has been known to cause devestating injuries especially in the lower leg areas of the runners.

• The NFL rule says:  "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."
• Likewise the NCAA rulling on the subject states: "All players are prohibited from grabbing the inside back collar of the shoulder pads or jersey, the area, or the inside collar of the side of the shoulder pads or jersey, and immediately pulling the ball carrier down. This does not apply to a ball carrier, including a potential passer, who is inside the tackle box."  In 2017 the NCAA added the name plate area to the horse collar no touch section of the runner's person.
• The NFHS has a high school level rule that is right in tune with the upper levels. "It is a foul to grab the inside back, name plate area or side collar of either the shoulder pads or the jersey of the runner and subsequently pull (backwards or sideward) that opponent to the ground, even if possession is lost. The horse-collar is enforced as a live-ball foul."

It is a good rule, but it is too specific. One of the critical elements of the rule found at all three levels of football is that the runner must be brought to the ground due to the illegal grab inside the back or from the side of the runner's collar area. Tot should be like the face mask rule to discourage defenders from reaching for the area. In that rule, at all levels of play, the simple act of an opponent grabbing the face mask is a foul. Bringing a runner to the ground portion is not part of the rule like it is in the horse collar rule. If a player does not have the ball and is grasped in the collar area, it is not a horse collar foul. In that case, it could be holding or some other foul classification.

The big thing is that it should be a field for a collar grasp and release on the runner that does not fall to the ground. The initial jerking motion is where the injuries are dealt with, not the act of falling to the ground jersey. Thus, by rule right now, a collar grab that slows down the ball carrier and then either an escape, stepping out of bounds, or some other force that brings him to the ground or stops the play action does not qualify the act as a foul.

The banner photo above is from the Wikimedia Commons of a photograph of a football player (Bailey Johnson) bringing another player down with a "horse-collar tackle." The original image had a website logo in the lower right corner; Use C. Fred has cropped the image to remove the watermark. The Original work by GoIowaState dotcom, modified by User:C.Fred. We cropped it just a bit more for use in our banner and to focus in on the horse collar tackel a bit more for edcuational purposes. licensing agreesment is listed here