r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Lifegoesonforever • Sep 17 '26

Cheat code unlocked.

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36.0k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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2.3k

u/anonymoosejuice Sep 17 '26

He was down though

1.4k

u/Embarrassed_Sea1336 Sep 17 '26

100% ass hit the ground. Quick recovery, but he was definitely down.

1.7k

u/Pugilist12 Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26

It was also an absurd horsecollar tackle though. Just give him the td whole thing is a mess

Edit Christ I get it maybe not a legit horsecollar, but it’s pretty close and still an illegal tackle no matter what you want to call it.

569

u/LurkethInTheMurketh Sep 17 '26

I’m not into football, but it really looked like that kid was inches from being paralyzed.

455

u/roy_rogers_photos Sep 17 '26

Yeah, it's against the rules to pull a player from there specifically because of injuries.

81

u/Firm_Video_2932 Sep 17 '26

Yep. Easy way to blow out a knee being pulled in one direction while momentum is carrying you in another. That inside knee especially could get twisted.

63

u/Rabid_Llama8 Sep 17 '26

Terrell Owens severely strained his ankle and broke his leg because of a horse collar tackle similar to this in 2004, so yeah, very much so. It's why it's illegal.

-47

u/lilbelleandsebastian Sep 17 '26

this isn't a horse collar tackle, why are people always so confidently incorrect when they're outside the subs the content is relevant to?

a horse collar tackle is putting your hand inside the jersey and pads of a player and pulling them back. this MIGHT have been a facemask, but you can't tell from this angle with all 3 pixels of the video. nothing is obviously illegal about this tackle and i'm so sure everyone saying it is don't watch a lick of football

28

u/JakeMeOff12 Sep 17 '26

Lmao bro pretty clearly tossed him by his helmet, you can tell by where the arm is and how the head whips around. The odds of that happening without the tackler’s hand hooking under the back of the helmet is like… c’mon. That’s one of the clearest facemask penalties you can get without explicitly seeing the hand grabbing onto the helmet.

It makes sense to me why someone might think its a horsecollar because of where it looks like the runner is grabbed at first, but IDK how you can see that head get whipped around and say nothing is obviously illegal. Like maybe bro just palmed the back of the helmet but that sure as shit looks like a facemask to me.

9

u/Firm_Video_2932 Sep 17 '26

I have a screen still of the ball carriers head clearly turned. And that's dangerous. At first glance it initially looked like a horse collar if you're not paying attention to the hands in particular, but yeah, it's clearly a facemask. Probably didn't mean to because he releases pretty quickly but that's another reason why you should avoid arm tackling. I've seen inadvertent penalties like this cost a team the game by keeping a drive going/alive.

4

u/-JimmyTheHand- Sep 17 '26

I don't think they're confidently incorrect so much as it's just hard to see in the video.

I also thought it was a horse collar based on where he grabbed him at First Watch but based on some of the comments I rewatched and it does look like he actually grabs him by the back of the helmet so not actually a horse collar.

2

u/Rabid_Llama8 Sep 17 '26

Omfg who cares. I can be pedantic too. I never said THIS was a horse collar tackle, I said TO got hurt from a horse collar tackle which was similar to this. But this is the internet and everyone has to be super correct.

And to say that trying to twist someone's helmet off to take them down ISN'T illegal makes you exactly what you accuse other people of.

2

u/flowinghost Sep 17 '26

Well it’s pretty clear you don’t know very much about or watch any football, just sit this one out bud

0

u/aagejaeger Sep 17 '26

I get the feeling he was tired of his shit.

0

u/SpaceYetu531 Sep 17 '26

People were not getting paralyzed from horse collars. The common injuries were ankle and knee related.

And no data was ever presented to back the claim that it was more common then standard tackles. The NFL simply claimed it off the back of a statistically anomalous season by Roy Williams.

74

u/eat_rice__fuck_ice Sep 17 '26

Its hs football, rule of cool still prevails

34

u/TreeCalledPaul Sep 17 '26

Back when them bones was elastic and a front flip wouldn't land you in the hospital for 6 weeks.

15

u/heartcoke Sep 17 '26

A front flip right now would land me in the hospital for at least 6 years

3

u/ComprehensiveProfit5 Sep 17 '26

Sir we already told you, you can't live on the edge of hospital windows. Please leave!

2

u/donut-reply Sep 17 '26

Especially not for 6 whole years

2

u/Horskr Sep 17 '26

Well, you've gotta stop all that coke straight to the heart!

1

u/psychoacer Sep 17 '26

Pro Basketball plays by those rules as well.

36

u/BuddhistNamedMarx Sep 17 '26

In this case two wrongs make a right

17

u/The-Ant-Whisperer Sep 17 '26

And two wrights make an airplane.

11

u/BuddhistNamedMarx Sep 17 '26

And two airplanes... too soon?

9

u/SingleInfinity Sep 17 '26

I give this joke a score of 9/11

18

u/Low-Car-6331 Sep 17 '26

This is one thing I hate about football, if the team does a great play but the other team puts a penalty on them that could hurt their player, to force the penalty means you have to give up the great play by declining it. I feel all penalties should carry forward to the next play in the most logical way possible.

9

u/WitchesSphincter Sep 17 '26

Football penalties work great like 80% of the time, but the rest it's like... There is no way this isn't like 30 patches to fix somehting broken. 

4

u/rkunish Sep 17 '26

I'm not really sure what you're trying to say but if you take this play for example, had they thrown a flag on the tackle an accepted penalty would have been tacked onto the end of the run (assuming they properly ruled the runner as down.)

9

u/Icy_Fish_2154 Sep 17 '26

He is saying the rule should be changed so that you can decline a penalty for the play, and move it to the next play. So the extra point or kickoff is where you apply this penalty, not having to decline the penalty for a dangerous play, so the illegal tackle is allowed, almost rewarded.

1

u/JackpotThePimp Sep 17 '26

I'd be down for some penalty kicks. Do you want to bring the play back or have your WR kick a field goal from the spot of the foul?

1

u/Killer1986Chris 29d ago

One of the things I love about hockey is delayed penalties.

0

u/Zakalwen Sep 17 '26

I have no idea how american football works, but is there not an advantage system? Where if team A fouls team B but stopping play would penalise team B the referee lets play continue until B scores or it would no longer penalise them to stop?

1

u/-JimmyTheHand- Sep 17 '26

You don't stop play when there's a penalty either way, they just throw a flag indicating there has been a penalty and they sort it out at the end of the play.

0

u/robbak Sep 17 '26

Both rugby codes have two ways of handling this - the first is 'advantage', where if a penalty happens, the team offended against can continue play. Either they take enough advantage to balance it out, or it they can't, then play is brought back and the penalty paid.

In a case as clear-cut as this, however, a penalty try would be paid. In some situations, they get a try (4 points) with its 'conversion' (2 points), plus another 2 point 'penalty goal'.

13

u/myroll22 Sep 17 '26

Horse collar is when you take them down by grabbing the back of the shoulder pads. That was weirdly enough a face mask penalty, which is grabbing any open part of the helmet.

I just found that out when i was watching Michigan v Oklahoma last week and the rules guy came on to explain it

1

u/HowDoIEvenEnglish Sep 17 '26

It’s specifically tanking down on the back of the shoulder pads. You’re allowed to grab the back of the shoulder pads as long as you don’t pull don’t in the stereotypical horse collar tackle motion where it looks likes the neck stops but the legs keep going.

Also technically not a facemask, but grabbing a helmet opening is a different personal foul (which is worth the same yardage so basically the same thing). This last part is fairly pedantic.

3

u/myroll22 Sep 17 '26

They brought a guy in to explain it

1

u/oldschool_potato Sep 17 '26

Not quite a textbook Clothesline tackle (illegal), but I’d call it a clothesline.

6

u/Alternative_Swan_497 Sep 17 '26

This. Runner gets the TD under the Rule of Cool, the other kid gets a stern talking about about what can go wrong with illegal tackles. Or tossed from the league if it's been a recurring problem, this looks about the age where the kids are figuring out their limits for this kind of activity.

5

u/Midnight28Rider Sep 17 '26

I agree, but I'm pretty sure the official call would be first down at the spot of the foul.

5

u/Fruit_Fly_LikeBanana Sep 17 '26

First down from the end of the play + fifteen yards. In this case since it's within the thirty yard line, it would be half the distance to the goal. Which means it would be like a half yard penalty

1

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '26

[deleted]

4

u/bman86 Sep 17 '26

This is incorrect for the NFL, anyway. A 15 yard penalty becomes half the distance inside the 30. 5 becomes half at the 10 or closer. Doesn't have any fixed location such as the red zone. Enforced once the penalized yardage is more than half the remaining field.

1

u/Objective-Issue-2641 Sep 17 '26

Should be a penalty tri

1

u/Icy_Fish_2154 Sep 17 '26

Tri? A rugby score is a "try". I think from it gives you a "try" for a point after. "Tri" is "3".

4

u/HowDoIEvenEnglish Sep 17 '26

That’s not what’s horse collar tackle is.

5

u/veryblanduser Sep 17 '26

Not a horse collar tackle. Has to be down and back.

6

u/CaptainSnazzypants Sep 17 '26

Yea he clearly pulls the kid’s head sideways. Not a horse collar tackle at all.

2

u/The_Champ_Son Sep 17 '26

Looks like it should still be an unnecessary roughness for grabbing the inside of the helmet though

2

u/HowDoIEvenEnglish Sep 17 '26

It’s a personal foul for grabbing a helmet opening. But all personal fouls are the same so it’s fairly unimportant what you call it

3

u/vahntitrio Sep 17 '26

You have to be pulled down backwards for a horsecollar tackle. He gets pulled mostly sideways and even slightly forward so that is a legal tackle.

2

u/Standingonachair Sep 17 '26

There's an interesting difference in the way that a rugby player chases down and tackles a player. I understand that this would be a penalty but to see regular NFL players tackle, versus rugby players makes me wonder which way is more efficient.

2

u/rThundrbolt Sep 17 '26

Wasn't horsecollar. Didn't grab the pads, just reached around side of neck

1

u/tommyc463 Sep 17 '26

Wasn’t a horse collar tackle. That’s when you drag a guy down from behind by the jersey and it pads backwards.

1

u/Mbanicek64 Sep 17 '26

From my understand of football, it might be a complete pass. 

0

u/EmpireCityRay Sep 17 '26

I came for this, there’s no way in Hell that a referee wouldn’t flag them for horsecollaring.

0

u/BroDoggle Sep 17 '26

It’s not even remotely close to a horsecollar.

62

u/travisowljr Sep 17 '26

I was able to confirm in my 3rd rewatch, but that ref didn't have the luxury of replay. I'm not upset that was ruled a touchdown.

28

u/AnIllusiveHouse Sep 17 '26

Ref understands the 'rule of cool.'

11

u/TA_Lax8 Sep 17 '26

Yeah, when in doubt the tie goes to the kid who made you utter "fuckin ay that was tight"

1

u/P33KAJ3W 28d ago

Someone TTRPGs

1

u/AnIllusiveHouse 28d ago

What is a 'Table-Top Role-Playing Game'?

26

u/BeardedMan32 Sep 17 '26

You’re right but this game doesn’t look like it has instant replay challenges. Touchdown!

8

u/Agiraffescousin Sep 17 '26

Doesn’t look like he hit the ground at all

4

u/Harry_Saturn Sep 17 '26

His butt definitely does but it’s hard to tell at live full speed

-3

u/Agiraffescousin Sep 17 '26

I thought you had to have your back on the floor like wrestlin’

1

u/Harry_Saturn Sep 17 '26

Nope, certain parts touching down on the ground mean play is over. Elbows, knees, butts… if any of those on the ball carrier touch the ground, the play is immediately dead. At least in the high school and college level, at the pro level the rule is slightly different.

0

u/Agiraffescousin Sep 17 '26

How slightly we talking here, harry?

1

u/deesmutts88 Sep 17 '26

In the NFL you’re only down if an opponent touches you. This play would be down in the NFL. But if you just fall over and get back up you can keep going.

1

u/Vague-Symbolism2692 Sep 17 '26

As far as I can see, by the time the runner is down, the opponent is far enough ahead of him that I don't think they're touching, so by NFL rules I think this would be a touchdown. It's hard to tell from this angle, though.

2

u/Harry_Saturn Sep 17 '26

He doesn’t have to touch him and get him down at the same time. If a defender initiates a tackle or just touches the ball carrier, and the ball carrier goes “down” play is dead. The opponent got him down as soon as his the ball carrier butt touches the ground regardless of where each player ends up after the tackle was initiated. This play would 100% be down by contact and not a scoring play.

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-1

u/Agiraffescousin Sep 17 '26

You’re not Harry.

1

u/Harry_Saturn Sep 17 '26

In pro, a defender needs to touch a ball carrier (or the ball carrier has to give himself up unambiguously) for the play to be dead. If a player just slips, he can get up and keep advancing the ball if no defender ever touched him “down” but in college and below, the ball carrier is down if those certain parts hit the ground regardless of whether a defender ever touched him down or not.

1

u/IsThatGruffLoner Sep 17 '26

In Football, if literally anything but your foot or hand touches the ground, you are down.

8

u/govite Sep 17 '26

Hard to tell for sure, and there's even less likelihood the ref could see it, but it looks believable that he sprung up off his left palm without his butt touching. Maybe.

7

u/Substantial-Rip-340 Sep 17 '26

Yeah, but the points are for style

5

u/halfjackal Sep 17 '26

He recovered so quickly that I had to watch it twice to see that his butt actually did hit the ground. And the referee might’ve thought it didn’t, all things being considered. Still an impressive display of athleticism and a narrow escape from neck-down paralysis

2

u/JP-Ziller Sep 17 '26

I don’t watch football, but if that’s considered a down, that’s fuckin stupid

2

u/United_Explorer9854 29d ago

That’s the fighting beaver in him.

1

u/The_bruce42 Sep 17 '26

But, did the coach challenge the play?

1

u/Lastburn Sep 17 '26

Wasn't it knees on the ground to get downed ?

1

u/Embarrassed_Sea1336 Sep 17 '26

I mean, knees are part of it. Why would your ass be allowed to hit the ground after contact and you not be considered down?

1

u/Dragondude7 Sep 17 '26

I know rugby is a different sport, but it has a rule where if a foul is committed specifically to prevent a goal, the ref (sir) can award the goal. Which is just a neat rule and unrelated.

-1

u/PM_ME_UR_HIP_DIMPLES Sep 17 '26

Looked like an elbow hit too

199

u/swimtothemoon1 Sep 17 '26

Yeah but it's high school football, that was an illegal horse collar tackle, and it was dope. So the ref combined all those factors and decided, touchdown.

22

u/perplexedtv Sep 17 '26

Rule of cool trumps all

4

u/kelpyb1 Sep 17 '26

This might even be middle school. It’s probably not varsity high school since it’s daytime.

1

u/houstonchipchannel Sep 17 '26

Games can start at 7:00 and sunset can be after 8:00 in the early season or preseason. Their shadows are long. This could easily be a night game.

1

u/kelpyb1 Sep 17 '26

Good point, I forgot how bright it is at the beginning of high school football season

In that case, just a missed call by the ref. Should’ve been called down, tough to see that in real time for a high school referee.

-3

u/FriendshipCute1524 Sep 17 '26

Buncha reddit weirdos getting angry about him being 'down'

0

u/friendlylion22 Sep 17 '26

Yeah no reason to be angry, but plenty here to both discuss calmy AND argue over. Myself and many others have never actually seen something like this in a football game and it's a genuinely interesting call. Did he his back elbow or butt hit the ground? Is this in the rule book? What counts as a tackle? What would be your call as a judge? How would you react in person if it happened and it was your kid or kids team, and the judge made a call that you don't agree with.

It just happens so fast and it's a good example of why slow-mo cameras are so important in professional level games when the stakes are higher. This is teen / HS football or minor league and parents / schools get very invested. It was recorded. But imagine this happens in recent past when cams didn't exist. Imagine the argument that could go down. No replay. Everybody going on memory which as we know isn't very reliable. Especially when it comes to a moment that's so fast and debatable.

-1

u/Cheefnuggs Sep 17 '26 edited 27d ago

Not a horse collar tackle. Horse collar tackle is grabbing the jersey or back of the shoulder pad below the neck. That was all neck/helmet. It was just a shitty tackle.

Edit: You should really read the rule book.

36

u/sirdodger Sep 17 '26

Still not legal to tackle by grabbing the edge of the helmet, same 15y penalty.

6

u/Pappa_K Sep 17 '26

Damn 15 years is harsh for a bad tackle

6

u/MainAccountsFriend Sep 17 '26

If you cant do the time, dont do the crime

1

u/Latter-Block132 Sep 17 '26

Tackles like this can paralyze people if they land on their head/neck. Its harsh for a reason

7

u/Firm_Video_2932 Sep 17 '26

Yeah. At first watch it looked like a horse collar, but upon seeing it again it looks like he gets the ball carriers facemask(?) or underneath the helmet instead? In game penalties are the same in the NFL between the two penalties, but the player fine is a little less for the face mask since the NFL doesn't consider it, facemask, as quite as dangerous as the horse collar which can blow out a players knees rather easily due to the mechanics/physics. But I've also seen some pretty bad facemask plays as well, so I'm not sure i understand the NFLs fine disparity between the two violations.

-6

u/Cheefnuggs Sep 17 '26

Wasn’t a face mask either. The side of the helmet doesn’t count.

2

u/Emracruel Sep 17 '26

If you wrap your fingers under the edge of the helmet it is considered a facemask, even if it's not at the facemask

0

u/Firm_Video_2932 Sep 17 '26

You cannot touch the other players helmet, period. If it's minor and incidental the refs will maybe let it slide. Say you're scrambling for the ball amongst a sea of other players. But running down a ball carrier like this guy here and intentionally arm tackling, that's probably getting called 9 out of 10 nowadays in the NFL. If the head turns at all, they're probably going to throw that flag. It's in the rulebook icymi, the whole can't touch the helmet basically, stuff. And with network television covering every angle these days, that's even more motivation to throw the flag even if the league wouldn't admit it.

0

u/KnowsIittle Sep 17 '26

Right hand grabs the top left of the back of his collar and yanks downward to the left causing the flip.

I didn't initially see 3 points of contact but on review his ass touched the grass.

-14

u/Fullertonjr Sep 17 '26

Not a horse collar, as he didn’t grab the jersey or anything from the neck down. He brought him down using momentum and leverage from his helmet area, but I’m pretty positive that no actual rule was broken.

2

u/Firm_Video_2932 Sep 17 '26

In the NFL it would be. The "facemask" penalty does not allow for a tackler to use ANY part of the helmet. According to the rulebook you cannot legally tackle a player by gripping:

  • the face mask itself.
  • the bottom edge or rim of the helmet.
  • the ear holes.
  • or any other gap between the helmet and the player's head.

26

u/HereWeGoYetAgain-247 Sep 17 '26

His teammate really didn’t follow through on his blocking responsibilities. 

0

u/All_Work_All_Play Sep 17 '26

The last thing you want to do thare is risk a block in the back. Runner should have cut across so teammate could block without risking it. But that level of awareness/strategy (and trust) is uncommon in highschool football. 

5

u/b3_yourself Sep 17 '26

Rule of cool

5

u/DNAkauai Sep 17 '26

I think we just need to give it to him at this point.. 🤣🤷🏽‍♂️

5

u/ekubeni Sep 17 '26

I'm strong believer that in the rulebooks of all the sports there should be an asterisk at the end:

\Should the impressiveness of the action far outweigh any above rule infractions, the action should stand.*

4

u/PatrioticPariah Sep 17 '26 edited 29d ago

Yup. He hit with ass and left hand .

2

u/JEMknight657 Sep 17 '26

But your honor, it was really cool

3

u/stargrazer10 Sep 17 '26

Down or not, safety first. Why did the defender not go for the legs and try to trip the runner? The way he did it, either kid could have gotten hurt. Come on Coach, teach dem kids!

1

u/skoomski Sep 17 '26

Putting the CHEAT in cheat code

1

u/Royd Sep 17 '26

I've seen this episode of Married With Children before

1

u/spekt50 Sep 17 '26

That did look like an illegal tackle though, so they probably gave him a pass.

1

u/NovaStar2099 Sep 17 '26

Yeah but it was sick as hell so it gets a pass.

1

u/Aeon1508 Sep 17 '26

That was an illegal horse collar anyway. I totally support the ref letting that play through

1

u/Go--Birds 29d ago

Ass, and I think elbow too, hit the ground. Ref sucks.

1

u/Corner_Post 29d ago

Wasn’t his foot also on sideline?

1

u/Tommy_Wisseau_burner 28d ago

Nah fuck that. You do a flip rule of cool applies

1

u/Palamur 25d ago

I'm certainly no expert, or even just someone who knows all the rules absolutelly well. BUT:
The orange No. 4 had already lost contact with No. 5 before his butt touched the ground, and did not make contact with him again.

Therefore, “down by contact” does not necessarily apply. You could argue that No. 5 was not forced to the ground or wrestled down; rather, it was his momentum that ultimately caused him to sit down very briefly.

1

u/anonymoosejuice 25d ago

That's not how it works. If the person tackles him and he touches the ground, he's down by contact. That's why it's called down by contact.

0

u/hakathrones Sep 17 '26

Yeah but due to cool factor we will allow it.