Ball-carrier is down when defender removes either hip flag; Knee-down, ball-out-of-bounds, or flag falls off naturally = play dead; No contact: no blocking, no diving, no tackling — flag-pull only
Why people argue about this
People often assume that a player can be downed simply by having their hip flag removed, without realizing they must also have one of their knees on the ground or the ball leave the field for it to count. The confusion arises because the rule specifies multiple ways to achieve this, and some players might not fully grasp all conditions needed for a "down.
