The NFL has approved to expansion of the Horse Collar Rule.
Once widely known as the Roy Williams Rule, after the Dallas Cowboys’ safety who broke then-Eagles receiver Terrell Owens’s leg using the move in 2004—which involves tackling any player that isn’t a quarterback in the pocket by grabbing inside the back of their shoulder pads—the first version of the rule came into the league during the 2005 offseason.
Now it’s getting a little more fleshed out.
Per Pro Football Talk, the Competition Committee proposed a change to language so that it now says the illegal move has been committed anytime the “defender grabs the jersey at the name plate or above and pulls a runner toward the ground,” and the league approved.
It was one of seven changes approved by the league this week. Some of the other measures include making the longer extra point permanent, and the ban of all chop blocks.
