Tackling a ball carrier who intends to throw a forward pass. A sack is also awarded if a player forces a fumble of the ball, or the ball carrier goes out of bounds, behind the line of scrimmage on an apparent intended forward pass play. The term gained currency circa 1970.
In Madden NFL series, a sack also means, for an offensive lineman, being flattened by the defensive lineman, therefore unable to hold off his defensive tackle or defensive end, the worst that could happen is to contributing to conceding an interception or a quarterback sack.
