Tackling Technique

[Sully]

Of an 8 year career in coaching, I've coached defense 7 of those years. Back in my playing (poorly) days, i was an awful (AWFUL) tackler, so I've studied and studied tackling, in order to help kids not be as bad as I was.

The vast majority of teams teach tackling the same way, with little variance.

Head across and bite the ball, fire the "knives" (hands) through and grab cloth, drive the knees, and redirect.

The Seahawks came out last year with a new tackling technique, and in talking to a few coaches in the area, it's catching on a little bit. It's scary because in a lot of ways it is almost the opposite of what everyone teaches. You get your head out of the way, essentially putting it behind the near thigh of the ballcarrier, and run through while lifting.

The scary part:
Not getting your head across. This is basically the definition of an arm tackle, and they are now teaching it.
You are hitting at a lower level, which means, most likely, taking your eyes off the target.

The positives:
Your head is out of the way= less concussions
It actually helps angles on open-field tackling
Easy to practice when not going "live"


All that said, I wonder if pro teams will start using it more. it is made for more athletic teams, and obviously the Seahawks are seeing a ton of success with it. The Chiefs seem to be drafting for athleticism, so it may be a good idea to switch over to it, especially for players like Wilson and Alexander.

[mdchiefsfan]

I like it better than this

[Coyote]

Much of the “Rugby” technique is taught due to NFL rules brought in a couple of years ago and began being taught/enforced before that in high schools, as a result of concussions (2:17 mark of first clip includes Charles example) : http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100...unner-defender
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/20...hhM/story.html
http://www.wkyc.com/story/sports/hig...ules/13047441/

Another NFL cause for technique change was the impact on the Saints and “Bountygate,” and how many DCs interpreted it, impacting their coaching technique as well as their motivational techniques. One of our “local: coaches was the DC involved;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orl...bounty_scandal

A long time NFL defensive position coach and DC, now turned front office guy that prior to 2010 always taught to lead with the crown- in violation of the rules- is a friend and we have discussed this a few times. He complained as a DC that guys were never taught to tackle well early because coaches didn’t want to screw them up since they were always the finest players on their teams as kids. By the time he got them in the NFL, he simply used their athleticism and temperament to turn them into missiles vice trying to teach them to “see what you hit”, “take out the trash” traditional Gap sound tackling.
One of the weird consequences of the evolution of helmets is that as they steadily improved, so did head injuries. (My favorite brand when I was still coaching high school guys is the Xenith for protection and visibility/mobility.) The ironic thought is that as helmets and other pads/equipment improved, players simply quit unconsciously worrying about their head so the collisions included helmet to helmet “kill” shots. I subscribe to that in part due to the evidence of football compared to Rugby or Australian rules football and head injuries over the same time frames.

[Sully]

I've always thought that the quickest path to reducing concussions would be to get rid of facemasks.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Why don't you just teach them the easiest way to tackle by grabbing the collar and jerking down as hard as possible.

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Hog Farmer

Why don't you just teach them the easiest way to tackle by grabbing the collar and jerking down as hard as possible.

When a pro gives you advice, you take it!