Could tackle that injured Cowboys' Tony Pollard be penalized in 2023 season?

Pollard underwent surgery to repair ligaments in his ankle following this past Sunday's 19-12 loss at the San Francisco 49ers. Mahomes, meanwhile, played through a high ankle sprain and helped the Chiefs earn a 27-20 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He's on track to start when Kansas City hosts the Cincinnati Bengals in this Sunday's AFC Championship Game. 

Bieler and Maske noted how the National Rugby League in Australia banned similar so-called "hip drop" tackles after that organization "saw an increased occurrence of these types of tackles, some of which resulted in serious injuries to attacking players including a broken ankle, ACL tear and many high-ankle sprains." As Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk pointed out, the NFL now has rules against horse-collar tackles and also low hits on quarterbacks due to injuries suffered by big-name stars such as Hall-of-Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens and quarterback Tom Brady. 

"Defenseless" offensive players are also protected in ways that are foreign to previous generations of football stars. 

Bieler and Maske added that the NFL reviewing "hip drop" tackles "does not mean there necessarily will be a rule change proposed" this winter or spring. Whenever player-safety measures are mentioned, however, history shows that the league likely will go out of its way to protect offensive play-makers regardless of how such a move impacts defensive players who already have to worry about drawing penalties whenever they chase quarterbacks during games.