Horse-collar tackle

The horse-collar tackle is a gridiron football maneuver in which a defender tackles another player by grabbing the back collar or the back-inside of an opponent's shoulder pads and pulling the ball carrier directly downward violently in order to pull his feet from underneath him.

49ers cornerback Eric Wright stopped Pearson with a horse-collar tackle (Danny White fumbled on the next play, thus preserving victory for the 49ers and putting them in Super Bowl XVI).

The horse-collar tackle rose to infamy during the 2004 NFL season, in which it was implicated in six major injuries, four of which were caused by Williams, including two in one game.

[2] The horse-collar is particularly dangerous due to the awkward position of the player being tackled, who will often fall backward in a twisting motion with one or both legs trapped under the weight of his body.

The one-game suspension was given following a horse-collar tackle on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb that occurred on December 16, 2007, and it was Williams' third violation of the rule of the 2007 season.

The National Federation of State High School Associations added a penalty for horse-collar tackles for the 2009 season.

Example of a horse-collar tackle made by an ISU player (red and gold) on a player. The tackler's right hand has grabbed the Cowboy runner's collar and is using it to pull him down from behind.