USA Today Sports
Anybody of watches football on a regular basis can see that players sometimes go down at very opportune times. Call it ‘taking a dive’ or simply what it really is, feigning an injury, but it’s clear that players use the tactic to help their teams on a regular basis. Now, former linebacker Brian Urlacher is shedding some light on one of the NFL‘s most common stall tactics.
The future hall-of-famer told the Chicago Sun Times that the Chicago Bears even went as far as having a designated ‘dive guy’ they used when the team needed an extra minute to regroup, especially if the defense was up against a high-powered offense who was getting on a role. Urlacher also shared that the coaching staff even had a signal they would show from the sidelines anytime they thought a dive was necessary.
While this is certainly not a shocking revelation, it does come across as rather busch league. I look at it as the NFL equivalent of flopping, which in now almost universally hated among basketball fans. But the NBA finally did something about flopping this past season and started fining players who used the tactic. You can call it strategy all day long, but when you get right down to it, it’s really an unsportsmanlike move.
I’m sure the Bears and other teams around the NFL were not thrilled with Urlacher’s comments, because it now could force league officials to look into the practice. There’s no place for feigning injuries in real athletics. It’s something WWE fans should expect to see, not those watching college and NFL games. However, it’s such a tough thing to call out, that I doubt anything will done about it anytime soon.
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