NFL fans are pushing for the Los Angeles Chargers to be punished for injuring Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on Sunday.
Kelce, 36, went down with an apparent ankle injury in the first quarter of Sunday’s Week 6 game vs. the Los Angeles Chargers. Kelce was seen limping off of the field before getting attended to by medical staff on the sideline. Kelce was seen getting his right ankle taped.
The three-time Super Bowl-winning tight end appeared to be in some serious pain on the bench.
“Travis Kelce has sit down on the table near the blue medical tent. They haven’t put it up. He looks incredibly frustrated,” Pete Sweeney reported on X.
The veteran NFL tight end might have gotten taken down with a hip-drop tackle, which is illegal.
Chiefs fans pushing for Chargers to be punished
Chiefs fans and others believe that the Chargers got away with an illegal tackle and should face punishment in the mode of a fine or something else.
“Is the NFL actually going to call hip drop tackles or is it just a bunch of propaganda? Kelce injured on a clear hip drop and the refs do nothing,” one NFL fan wrote.
“The Chargers are so dirty! Punish them @RogerGoodell,” one fan added on X.
“Of course Kelce would get hurt on a dirty hip drop tackle… I hate the chargers,” another fan added.
“NFL added a hip drop tackle penalty but they never call it. Are they stupid? Now Kelce is hurt,” one fan added on X.
The NFL’s hip-drop penalty rule, explained
The NFL outlines its hip-drop penalty rule in the rule book. It’s defined as:
It is a foul if a player uses the following technique to bring a runner to the ground:
- grabs the runner with one or both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and
- unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and/or trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.
The hip-drop tackle is supposed to result in a 15-yard penalty and automatic first down.
