The Lost Art of Tackling
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?page=hotread13/Tackling
"Smith added that most people in the NFL assume that players are expected to know how to tackle before they reach the league. In fact, it's harder to find players who are used to practicing tackling as frequently as some might suspect.
It doesn't happen nearly as much in college, where the NCAA limits practice time. Also, collegiate defenses have to cope with the ubiquitous spread offense. That formation, as Texans defensive coordinator Frank Bush said, 'makes defenders get used to tackling at all sorts of weird angles.'"
Interesting article on ESPN. I know for last several years, many a Michigan fans have lamented the decline of Michigan's tackling abilities, most notably from 2003 on. Lots of possible factors: mediocre defensive talent, advent of the spread offense, more elusive RBs, etc... Well, looks like the NFL is getting hit hard too. Of course, the NFL is made up of these guys from college, so if players' tackling abilities are bad in college, it will probably translate the same into the NFL. So yeah, looks like Michigan ain't the only team with tackling issues...
December 9th, 2009 at 2:38 PM ^
That makes me feel just a little better. What doesn't make me feel better is seeing how well OSU and Penn St. typically tackle...I feel like an old man when I watch Michigan games and end up more-or-less saying, "Kids today - they've got no fundamentals!" fifteen or so times.
December 9th, 2009 at 2:38 PM ^
...bunting is the real lost art. Well, that and glass blowing.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:24 PM ^
other lost sports arts:
The set shot
The bank shot
The bounce pass and/or post entry pass
The two-handed catch of the lazy fly ball ("Use two hands, Billy! This isn't the major leagues!")
The screwgie (which was a much better name than the screw ball, IMO)
The knuckler
The Fosberry Flop (or is/was it the western roll?)
The jump pass (despite Tebow's effort to resurrect it ... oh, Tebow/New Testatment play on words ... sorry)
The forearm shiver
Got to be plenty more ... any cantankerous geezers out there (in spirit or years) want to add to the pile?
December 9th, 2009 at 3:49 PM ^
The head slap.
The clothesline.
The two-handed underhand free throw.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:59 PM ^
The two-handed underhand free throw.Excuse me, the proper terminology is "potty shot."
December 9th, 2009 at 8:15 PM ^
In my circle we used to call it the granny shot.
December 12th, 2009 at 7:41 AM ^
the (sky) hook shot!
December 9th, 2009 at 2:42 PM ^
Good read but one glaring omission: pad level. It's simply impossible to have an intelligent discussion about tackling (or any other topic in football) without an in-depth analysis of pad level.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:02 PM ^
is that you????
December 9th, 2009 at 2:46 PM ^
"throw your hips when tackling. It helps make the tackle and it will help you in the sack later in life...its a double win"
December 9th, 2009 at 2:48 PM ^
I think you can blame in part the usual boogeyman: SportsCenter. Good form tackles don't end up on SportsCenter, big crushing hits do. So guys want to make the big crushing hit and dance around calling attention to themselves. I don't know how many times I threw shit at the TV this year when I watched a safety try and tackle someone with his arms at his sides.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:12 PM ^
I hope you didn't literally throw shit at the TV. That would be messy.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:28 PM ^
Normally it's just the throw rags or whatever you call them on my armchair, but one time I was in Ohio, and hey, when in Rome, man.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:25 PM ^
All-too-many guys go for the kill shot instead of just wrapping up and getting the guy down. Players should learn a little bit about wrestling or judo (or anything that teaches you about body leverage) in my humble, non-expert, Monday morning quarterback opinion.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:41 PM ^
Like State Champion wrestler Mike Martin?
December 9th, 2009 at 3:50 PM ^
exactly
December 9th, 2009 at 2:56 PM ^
1. Failure to run through the tackle; i.e., stopping feet on contact.
2. Failure to get head in front of the ball carrier. Head behind means arm tackles, which are way easier to break.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:15 PM ^
When I went to the Penn State coaches clinic this past year, for the first time I saw coaches who didn't necessarily stress the "head in front" philosophy. Ron Vanderlinden, their linebackers coach, talked about keeping your head in line with the rest of your body and fitting with the ballcarrier. He basically teaches his players to drive their facemasks through the runner. Since PSU is usually a good tackling team, I thought that was interesting.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:22 PM ^
knees and pissing on the ceiling.
December 10th, 2009 at 11:47 AM ^
"1. Failure to run through the tackle; i.e., stopping feet on contact."
This is the biggest issue that I see. I wish the coaches would show our kids film of David Harris (and Brandon Graham) and really stress this.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:05 PM ^
More players need to go to the Chris Spielman school of tackling. Get your head across and close the gate.
December 9th, 2009 at 6:24 PM ^
I can't prove this, but anecdotally there is far less hitting in practice, and less tackling practice itself, than there used to be in colleges. Some have discussed that with the increasing presence in college of NFL coaches, the NFL culture of not hitting much during the week is coming into college. Also, with the increased money in college football, coaches have cut back on hitting in practice do to fear of injuries. I know that one specific criticism of Weis at ND was that for his first couple of years he did no full hitting at all during the week, and ND became criticized as a soft team by some that follow them closely (including Holtz). The problem with cutting back on hitting in college of course, is that the players have not mastered tackling yet, and without much practice at it, they don't get better. So once they get to the NFL they are screwed, because most NFL teams never practice tackling (I was shocked when I learned this a few years back, but it's an injury fear thing, plus the coaches think tackling is something they should know already), and seldom hit during the week.
December 9th, 2009 at 6:54 PM ^
it has a young padawan named Kovacs