I remember the documentary/report on Pete's unique and "revolutionary" tackling technique taught in our camp and preseason during his early years. It was a wrap-around the waist and use your hip leverage to twist the player down style. Idk if they outlawed it, but I don't see it on the field much anymore from us.
Teaching tackling is actually easy - In Practice put the red band around the O players waist and insist they always rapup as close to the red band as possible - JR. High stuff! But it works! Getting this far through football programs and not having decent tackling techniques is Ridiculous! The main issue to me is the poor loose zone they always play in the middle of the field - We get ate alive every game there and they are not seeming to do anything to adjust!!! It is deplorable!
Curious if any of you heard or read Brock Huards take on Seattle's Defense? I was not shocked when I read it, coming from a QB's eyes as he said it is exactly what I've been saying for sometime! Changes need to be made and they're really not that tough. Without them this D with anyone playing will just never be very good in the passing game!
the tackling issues have been a point of frustration for me for several years now. The worst offender on the team right now is Diggs. I cannot stand a football player hitting someone and not wrapping the player up while they do. I cannot recall how many times I have seen Diggs or Coby crashing into the box and hitting someone and watching the person bounce off and keep running because they never used their arms to try and tackle a professional football player. I learned this in the 7th grade. How could pros be so sloppy in technique?
Very nearly went off into an entire rant about the whole state of the NFL, but no-one needs to read that. Instead -
"Tackling" in the NFL has basically always been a problem caused by the nature of the game and the way it has evolved. Rather than teach proper tackle technique (which would A) lead to better stopping of players with the ball, and B) lead to less injuries in tackles) the emphasis for American Football has been on hard power hits intended to bounce someone out of bounds, jar the ball loose, or just hope they hit the deck. This combines with an ever growing focus on speed, explosiveness and athletic/acrobatic skill, putting relatively undersized DB's in pace to tackle RBs who have an extra 10kg weight on them and/or are 4-5" shorter powerhouses. The fly in and hope tackle does not work in that case, you need technique.
This technique can be taught in what are very low contact walking speed drills, or against coaches holding pads, or dummies, where there is as close to zero injury or concussion risk as you can get. You work up speed and hit power on those same drills to something around half-speed and still carry an incredibly low concussion/injury risk. Onto a 75% speed drill where the 'offence' is only there to be tackled, so know to move and fall in certain ways, which again minimises the risks. I imagine with all the money and tech work available to NFL franchises you can easily build an automated dummy that moves at game speed which can be tackled in a safe fashion.
I'm a massive rugby fan, played it for years at school level and am working towards qualifying as a ref. I know very well what good tackling is. Rarely in the NFL or CFB do I see good tackling. But it's the nature of the sport and the push towards an ever more pass & offence heavy product. The takeaway should be that 15mins of full contact tackling actually can enough, as you can do an hour a day of low contact low speed technical practice. Equally whist our tackling is bad, i don't think we're that much worse than other teams based on the eye test, but our other issues on Defence mean it gets exposed more.
Proof a small guy can tackle better than anyone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clQbBqD4phw (look at his body position! That's is a player using technique to do the frankly impossible stop, despite being undersized & in a poor position, plus strong arms)
10mins of boom-time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC0TqcSOwsw (watch the technique, low with body & leg drive, strong arms working to grip and hold, almost no focus to just hit hard or drop a shoulder, it's all about making momentum work for you)
Rugby. Can't get enough. Still waiting to draft some Maori's to stage their pre-kickoff ceremonies. As teams find Spoon's tendencies, it is no surprise to see him having a more difficult time at everything. Sunday, we begin spoiling some very good teams.
Perfect examples. I told myself before reading your comment we need an Rugby player to teach tackling technique. It's just that much better.
When thinking about nfl tackles it's really often hit or miss. The players are flying in like missiles and if the ball carrier has enough space they almost always make one guy miss.
But then you can't really compare the nature of progression in rugby and football so the players think they have to stop their opponent as early as possible. I think if the players tackle safer they give the opponents more yards before the tackles but hopefully a lot less after it.
How do you tackle or teach tackling when new rules are implemented differently each week as the Officials are also on a learning curve meant to minimize injury? A jarring tackle penalty this week is okay the next. From players to coaches to officials, nobody knows how to play the game by the new designs they are inventing. Knock the ball loose? Out-of-the-question. Hard hits will always draw a flag just cuz... Officials don't know how to call these games today. It's either a new version of flag football or no-flag football. Start. Stop. Wait. Review. Another commercial. Richard Sherman needs to grab Cam Chancellor and Earl Thomas for their opinions.
Not sure if it is a stat somewhere but a better metric would be 'Missed Tackles leading to 1st Downs/TD's'. You could miss two tackles behind the LoS but tackle successfully for a 1yd loss. That's two counting stats but no substantial loss to the performance. Whilst you could make three tackles for loss, then whiff one tackle on 4th-and-long to concede a 60yd TD. Very good counting stats tackle wise but killing in terms of the performance. (Or again, how much does it matter to miss or make tackles if the pass completed for 15yds?)
I think tackling for the 'Hawks can be much better, however there are other factors more significantly contributing to our defensive struggles. It all feels somewhat symptomatic of poor coaching.
The Hawks are second in tackles made per game. Also, last in TOP. Some of the tackles made/tackles missed is a function of the defense being on the field more than any other defense in the league.
It's the things we feared coming into this year. The same stuff from last year: 3rd down success rate on both offense and defense has been abysmal again. SO many times we give up 10+yds on 3rd and long. It has to be demoralizing to the players, if it makes MY head drop at home watching.
If we don't get off the field on 3rd down, we will double our tackling opportunites. Misses and tackles go up.
If we don't convert 3rd downs on offense, our defense goes back out there to accumulate more tackling opportunites.
To me, TOP is the most damning statistic for either the offense or defense or both. And it is the opposite of Pete-ball. Not that Pete has done anything about it that I know of. If an actual journalist asked Pete the hard questions, TOP would be of interest to me. For at least 3 or more years we have had lopsided TOP and nothing to my knowledge has been done to change that.
It isn't just how well a team runs the ball, though that helps. It is also about how many times a team runs out of bounds to avoid a hit. It burns me when I see a player go out of bounds with no one within 5 yards of the guy. Usually, it because the play was designed to use the boundary, but those plays are misused by the QB and/or the WR if they can see what's going on. Put the dang brakes on and head upfield for gosh sakes. Stay inbounds instead of going out of bounds if you are DK, K9 or Charbs and hit someone.
I’ve come to believe that possessions are everything—more important even than field position. If you ask me, once the ball is inside the 50, offenses are in 4-down territory and the offensive philosophy should reflect that.
^This - If you have to play more defensive snaps you have to make more tackles, therefore you would expect to also miss more [is it a surprise the Jets & Panthers are also leaders in missed tackles given how much D those teams play?].
Doesn't mean our tackling cannot improve, but there are wider issues to resolve for the 'Hawks and doing that will have a knock on effect to tackling/missed tackles.
The Seahawks offense scores quickly when it scores, they don't grind out drives under Waldron. That's better than not scoring at all but it's a problem. However, they certainly did their job on Thursday night, which was to score points on a defense that was previously super stingy at home. But the lack of a strong run game seemed to lead them to throw more yet again, even after they got the lead.
The defense needs to get off the field all on its own. Giving up long grinding drives early isn't the offenses' fault, TOP should not be an issue in the first half, especially when the offense is doing its job. But both units contribute to these problems and it gets worse as the game goes on. This isn't new, this defense loves to fight for 3rd and long and then give it up. The improved run defense was collapsing before Nwosu went out, but it went off a cliff after he went on IR.
Blaming everything on the offense was old years ago. The offense has to score points, they need to get the run game working. And the defense has to get off the field, preferrably faster. None of this is new, both problems have been around for years, from before Geno or Waldron or Hurt, even before Norton or Schotty.
I made an observation; I didn’t cast blame. It’s simply a fact that given more opportunities to tackle there will be more tackles and more missed tackles. The best indicator of how good or bad a team is at tackling is to compare normalized numbers such as per snap or per 30 minutes on the field.
Sure, I made observations based on reading the game script, looking at length of drives, number of plays, TOP of each drive, and the outcome of each drive vs the outcome of the half vs the outcome of the game.
The defense creates it own opportunities to limit tackles, let alone missed tackles. The fact that more tackles are accruing could be a result of a defense being asked to do too much or a defense incapable of stopping its opponent. They had two turnovers on down last Thursday night, those were their only stops all night, and one of those was simply a drop by CeeDee Lamb.
Could be. The best check is to see whether other teams that are low in TOP are high in made and missed tackles. If they are, that would suggest that TOP is the primary factor.
I watched the KJ interview on Brock and Salk and loved it. I've tuned out of KJ's podcast except as a last measure because Gee sucks to listen to. I then went into that podcast and towards the end, Gee was worked up and yelling and Mrs. Turtleman popping into my office asking if I was watching a "shoot 'em up" which is her term for action movie. I told her about this show and she remembers KJ and I said I really feel like it could be my favorite podcast but his cohost makes it unlistenable to me. She sat down in the chair beside me and watched for a minute and said, "He's not saying anything outrageous; I think he'd be fine if he said things without getting so charged up." He then got as animated as he did the whole podcast and said a bunch of things that would be fine to say with about 10% the emotion he puts into it.
Maybe it's me, and I'm a southern guy raised by polite Presbyterians who is admittedly uncomfortable around those prone to emotional outbursts. But I really feel like if KJ partnered with a talented former player from another team or got the perfect cohost, he could reach that Pat MacAfee level of getting paid. He's a perfect radio guy, great voice, and knows the ever living shit about pro football. And he's teamed up with "I done been married 39 times!" Gee Scott. And the weirdest part is, I knew Gee for years from 710 and thought he was fine until he got on KJ's pod.
It's a symptom of the success of all the guys who have made a living out of becoming outraged when reporting on sports. It makes for good TV drama, I guess, even though it's clearly not genuine outrage. How exhausting would life be if you approached all conversations the way Stephen A. Smith talks about sports? KJ has a great personality for this job and I hope he is able to make a career of it. If so, there will be more Gees in his future (or maybe the same one) because it's good for ratings. I just hope he is able to stay genuine and not become one of those guys himself.
I still believe Pete has been loyal to his assistants and given them nearly free reign, but he said he might involve himself in offensive 3rd down play calling, and it seemed to improve our 3rd down efficiency.
Since he lets the OC call the plays, he becomes the victim of his own system if that OC can't do the job at an elite level. And if they are good at calling plays, they will be greedily picked up for a head coaching job since they have already demonstrated one of the most important jobs for a head coach to get done. Pete not calling plays makes him more of a coach emeritus to begin with. Both of the Coordinators seem just average to me. But who can do a better job, I don't know.
Waldron needs to stop those non-working Hortizontal plays that rarely(rarely) work! They just don't seem to as a team ever get the assignments correct. Would like to D Young used as a fullback and just let him block at times, release the back in the middle and throw to him, or even vice versa - circa some plays from Knox and the eighties Hawks!
I know this isn’t the prime cause, but the last collective bargaining agreement severely reduced the amount of contact in practice.
Maybe it’s just me, but I see poor tackling around the league. It seems worse with the Hawks, but that’s probably because I watch them miss tackles every single game.
Even my wife has commented on how so many of our defenders don’t wrap up, the just hit the offensive player and expect them to fall down.
In our best years, I remember thinking how great is was to be fine with our defense taking the field in a tight game. Back then it was no longer a mere matter of of trying to stop the other team from scoring, but time to impose our will on them and swing momentum our way. We might score ourselves, get a turnover, or at least give the ball back to our offense with good field position. It's been a long time since it's felt this way. I'm of the mind that tackling is one of those things that goes beyond talent. Players we got in the last couple of offseasons are missing more tackles than is typical for them. It even felt like 'Chenna was before he got hurt. Frank Clark is popped, as they say when a player's career is finished, and seems to miss as often as make a stop, but I couldn't find the numbers with a cursory google. Brooks is having a good season, but I watch him whiff every game. Adams and Diggs maybe even more. And Reed, Woolen, 'Spoon, Love; every week I watch each of them fail to bring down a ball carrier. One of the reasons I was excited when we traded for young 2x All Pro Jamal Adams was that he was one of the surest tacklers in the league, averaging 5% missed tackles, to memory. This season, he's missing over 22%. It's one thing for an EDGE guy to not have a good angle and not finish a play on a running back, but it's bad news when your last lines of defense can't bring their man down.
Maybe there's a technological fix for this that might not count as live tackling according to the more recent contracts with the players. When was the last time that tackling dummies evolved? Could a gauntlet of some type be created that maybe doesn't absorb the tackle like a real player would but it could possibly still juke and spin and maybe even simulate a high step/hurdle? I'm grasping at straws at this point but there's been a very obvious decrease in play quality for a lot of positions that depend on physical contact to train and get better.
I don't think players should be causing brain injuries to each other in practice, but I think there's a gap that can and should be filled through innovating with training equipment
When was the last time that tackling dummies evolved?
No idea, but the ones I see on NFL Films are basically good quality versions of the ones we used to run into in practice in Shelby, NC in the 80's. Seems crazy to think robotics might be the key to safer practice one day, but from a recent show I watched right now they still can't open a doorknob to bring you coffee without spilling the coffee less than 50% of the time. I think we're a way off from something that could simulate running footsteps and know when to juke, but tech always snowballs really quickly once the designers cross those hurdles. And at some point, the robots will be better than the players, and what then?!
Then we'll have to figure out how to send people (and good robots) back in time to prevent the invention of the smart tackling dummies that became self aware and wiped out human civilization.
This is point on. How these professional players, many who were known as good tacklers, keep wiffing is beyond acceptable. i can see that during practice no team would want to have hard tackles against their own players but this lack of communication is beyond ken.
I remember the documentary/report on Pete's unique and "revolutionary" tackling technique taught in our camp and preseason during his early years. It was a wrap-around the waist and use your hip leverage to twist the player down style. Idk if they outlawed it, but I don't see it on the field much anymore from us.
Teaching tackling is actually easy - In Practice put the red band around the O players waist and insist they always rapup as close to the red band as possible - JR. High stuff! But it works! Getting this far through football programs and not having decent tackling techniques is Ridiculous! The main issue to me is the poor loose zone they always play in the middle of the field - We get ate alive every game there and they are not seeming to do anything to adjust!!! It is deplorable!
Curious if any of you heard or read Brock Huards take on Seattle's Defense? I was not shocked when I read it, coming from a QB's eyes as he said it is exactly what I've been saying for sometime! Changes need to be made and they're really not that tough. Without them this D with anyone playing will just never be very good in the passing game!
the tackling issues have been a point of frustration for me for several years now. The worst offender on the team right now is Diggs. I cannot stand a football player hitting someone and not wrapping the player up while they do. I cannot recall how many times I have seen Diggs or Coby crashing into the box and hitting someone and watching the person bounce off and keep running because they never used their arms to try and tackle a professional football player. I learned this in the 7th grade. How could pros be so sloppy in technique?
Very nearly went off into an entire rant about the whole state of the NFL, but no-one needs to read that. Instead -
"Tackling" in the NFL has basically always been a problem caused by the nature of the game and the way it has evolved. Rather than teach proper tackle technique (which would A) lead to better stopping of players with the ball, and B) lead to less injuries in tackles) the emphasis for American Football has been on hard power hits intended to bounce someone out of bounds, jar the ball loose, or just hope they hit the deck. This combines with an ever growing focus on speed, explosiveness and athletic/acrobatic skill, putting relatively undersized DB's in pace to tackle RBs who have an extra 10kg weight on them and/or are 4-5" shorter powerhouses. The fly in and hope tackle does not work in that case, you need technique.
This technique can be taught in what are very low contact walking speed drills, or against coaches holding pads, or dummies, where there is as close to zero injury or concussion risk as you can get. You work up speed and hit power on those same drills to something around half-speed and still carry an incredibly low concussion/injury risk. Onto a 75% speed drill where the 'offence' is only there to be tackled, so know to move and fall in certain ways, which again minimises the risks. I imagine with all the money and tech work available to NFL franchises you can easily build an automated dummy that moves at game speed which can be tackled in a safe fashion.
I'm a massive rugby fan, played it for years at school level and am working towards qualifying as a ref. I know very well what good tackling is. Rarely in the NFL or CFB do I see good tackling. But it's the nature of the sport and the push towards an ever more pass & offence heavy product. The takeaway should be that 15mins of full contact tackling actually can enough, as you can do an hour a day of low contact low speed technical practice. Equally whist our tackling is bad, i don't think we're that much worse than other teams based on the eye test, but our other issues on Defence mean it gets exposed more.
Proof a small guy can tackle better than anyone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clQbBqD4phw (look at his body position! That's is a player using technique to do the frankly impossible stop, despite being undersized & in a poor position, plus strong arms)
10mins of boom-time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC0TqcSOwsw (watch the technique, low with body & leg drive, strong arms working to grip and hold, almost no focus to just hit hard or drop a shoulder, it's all about making momentum work for you)
Rugby. Can't get enough. Still waiting to draft some Maori's to stage their pre-kickoff ceremonies. As teams find Spoon's tendencies, it is no surprise to see him having a more difficult time at everything. Sunday, we begin spoiling some very good teams.
Perfect examples. I told myself before reading your comment we need an Rugby player to teach tackling technique. It's just that much better.
When thinking about nfl tackles it's really often hit or miss. The players are flying in like missiles and if the ball carrier has enough space they almost always make one guy miss.
But then you can't really compare the nature of progression in rugby and football so the players think they have to stop their opponent as early as possible. I think if the players tackle safer they give the opponents more yards before the tackles but hopefully a lot less after it.
Double rec for this, KHammarling.
How do you tackle or teach tackling when new rules are implemented differently each week as the Officials are also on a learning curve meant to minimize injury? A jarring tackle penalty this week is okay the next. From players to coaches to officials, nobody knows how to play the game by the new designs they are inventing. Knock the ball loose? Out-of-the-question. Hard hits will always draw a flag just cuz... Officials don't know how to call these games today. It's either a new version of flag football or no-flag football. Start. Stop. Wait. Review. Another commercial. Richard Sherman needs to grab Cam Chancellor and Earl Thomas for their opinions.
To my mind, 15 minutes of tackling per training session /day seems quite a lot.
To the extent that missed tackles is a volume stat we should not overlook the fact the difference in time of possession on D relative to the average.
While there is a tackling issue on the Seahawks it may be as much the effect of having more “opportunities “ as it is technique.
Not sure if it is a stat somewhere but a better metric would be 'Missed Tackles leading to 1st Downs/TD's'. You could miss two tackles behind the LoS but tackle successfully for a 1yd loss. That's two counting stats but no substantial loss to the performance. Whilst you could make three tackles for loss, then whiff one tackle on 4th-and-long to concede a 60yd TD. Very good counting stats tackle wise but killing in terms of the performance. (Or again, how much does it matter to miss or make tackles if the pass completed for 15yds?)
I think tackling for the 'Hawks can be much better, however there are other factors more significantly contributing to our defensive struggles. It all feels somewhat symptomatic of poor coaching.
The Hawks are second in tackles made per game. Also, last in TOP. Some of the tackles made/tackles missed is a function of the defense being on the field more than any other defense in the league.
It's the things we feared coming into this year. The same stuff from last year: 3rd down success rate on both offense and defense has been abysmal again. SO many times we give up 10+yds on 3rd and long. It has to be demoralizing to the players, if it makes MY head drop at home watching.
If we don't get off the field on 3rd down, we will double our tackling opportunites. Misses and tackles go up.
If we don't convert 3rd downs on offense, our defense goes back out there to accumulate more tackling opportunites.
To me, TOP is the most damning statistic for either the offense or defense or both. And it is the opposite of Pete-ball. Not that Pete has done anything about it that I know of. If an actual journalist asked Pete the hard questions, TOP would be of interest to me. For at least 3 or more years we have had lopsided TOP and nothing to my knowledge has been done to change that.
It isn't just how well a team runs the ball, though that helps. It is also about how many times a team runs out of bounds to avoid a hit. It burns me when I see a player go out of bounds with no one within 5 yards of the guy. Usually, it because the play was designed to use the boundary, but those plays are misused by the QB and/or the WR if they can see what's going on. Put the dang brakes on and head upfield for gosh sakes. Stay inbounds instead of going out of bounds if you are DK, K9 or Charbs and hit someone.
I’ve come to believe that possessions are everything—more important even than field position. If you ask me, once the ball is inside the 50, offenses are in 4-down territory and the offensive philosophy should reflect that.
^This - If you have to play more defensive snaps you have to make more tackles, therefore you would expect to also miss more [is it a surprise the Jets & Panthers are also leaders in missed tackles given how much D those teams play?].
Doesn't mean our tackling cannot improve, but there are wider issues to resolve for the 'Hawks and doing that will have a knock on effect to tackling/missed tackles.
The Seahawks offense scores quickly when it scores, they don't grind out drives under Waldron. That's better than not scoring at all but it's a problem. However, they certainly did their job on Thursday night, which was to score points on a defense that was previously super stingy at home. But the lack of a strong run game seemed to lead them to throw more yet again, even after they got the lead.
The defense needs to get off the field all on its own. Giving up long grinding drives early isn't the offenses' fault, TOP should not be an issue in the first half, especially when the offense is doing its job. But both units contribute to these problems and it gets worse as the game goes on. This isn't new, this defense loves to fight for 3rd and long and then give it up. The improved run defense was collapsing before Nwosu went out, but it went off a cliff after he went on IR.
Blaming everything on the offense was old years ago. The offense has to score points, they need to get the run game working. And the defense has to get off the field, preferrably faster. None of this is new, both problems have been around for years, from before Geno or Waldron or Hurt, even before Norton or Schotty.
I made an observation; I didn’t cast blame. It’s simply a fact that given more opportunities to tackle there will be more tackles and more missed tackles. The best indicator of how good or bad a team is at tackling is to compare normalized numbers such as per snap or per 30 minutes on the field.
Sure, I made observations based on reading the game script, looking at length of drives, number of plays, TOP of each drive, and the outcome of each drive vs the outcome of the half vs the outcome of the game.
The defense creates it own opportunities to limit tackles, let alone missed tackles. The fact that more tackles are accruing could be a result of a defense being asked to do too much or a defense incapable of stopping its opponent. They had two turnovers on down last Thursday night, those were their only stops all night, and one of those was simply a drop by CeeDee Lamb.
Could be. The best check is to see whether other teams that are low in TOP are high in made and missed tackles. If they are, that would suggest that TOP is the primary factor.
Hey Paul if I had read your comment before I posted I wouldn’t have posted! Agree 100%.
I watched the KJ interview on Brock and Salk and loved it. I've tuned out of KJ's podcast except as a last measure because Gee sucks to listen to. I then went into that podcast and towards the end, Gee was worked up and yelling and Mrs. Turtleman popping into my office asking if I was watching a "shoot 'em up" which is her term for action movie. I told her about this show and she remembers KJ and I said I really feel like it could be my favorite podcast but his cohost makes it unlistenable to me. She sat down in the chair beside me and watched for a minute and said, "He's not saying anything outrageous; I think he'd be fine if he said things without getting so charged up." He then got as animated as he did the whole podcast and said a bunch of things that would be fine to say with about 10% the emotion he puts into it.
Maybe it's me, and I'm a southern guy raised by polite Presbyterians who is admittedly uncomfortable around those prone to emotional outbursts. But I really feel like if KJ partnered with a talented former player from another team or got the perfect cohost, he could reach that Pat MacAfee level of getting paid. He's a perfect radio guy, great voice, and knows the ever living shit about pro football. And he's teamed up with "I done been married 39 times!" Gee Scott. And the weirdest part is, I knew Gee for years from 710 and thought he was fine until he got on KJ's pod.
I agree with you, Gee Scott is a tough listen most of the time- But really like KJ!
It's a symptom of the success of all the guys who have made a living out of becoming outraged when reporting on sports. It makes for good TV drama, I guess, even though it's clearly not genuine outrage. How exhausting would life be if you approached all conversations the way Stephen A. Smith talks about sports? KJ has a great personality for this job and I hope he is able to make a career of it. If so, there will be more Gees in his future (or maybe the same one) because it's good for ratings. I just hope he is able to stay genuine and not become one of those guys himself.
I still believe Pete has been loyal to his assistants and given them nearly free reign, but he said he might involve himself in offensive 3rd down play calling, and it seemed to improve our 3rd down efficiency.
Since he lets the OC call the plays, he becomes the victim of his own system if that OC can't do the job at an elite level. And if they are good at calling plays, they will be greedily picked up for a head coaching job since they have already demonstrated one of the most important jobs for a head coach to get done. Pete not calling plays makes him more of a coach emeritus to begin with. Both of the Coordinators seem just average to me. But who can do a better job, I don't know.
Waldron needs to stop those non-working Hortizontal plays that rarely(rarely) work! They just don't seem to as a team ever get the assignments correct. Would like to D Young used as a fullback and just let him block at times, release the back in the middle and throw to him, or even vice versa - circa some plays from Knox and the eighties Hawks!
I know this isn’t the prime cause, but the last collective bargaining agreement severely reduced the amount of contact in practice.
Maybe it’s just me, but I see poor tackling around the league. It seems worse with the Hawks, but that’s probably because I watch them miss tackles every single game.
Even my wife has commented on how so many of our defenders don’t wrap up, the just hit the offensive player and expect them to fall down.
It doesn’t work that way boys...
In our best years, I remember thinking how great is was to be fine with our defense taking the field in a tight game. Back then it was no longer a mere matter of of trying to stop the other team from scoring, but time to impose our will on them and swing momentum our way. We might score ourselves, get a turnover, or at least give the ball back to our offense with good field position. It's been a long time since it's felt this way. I'm of the mind that tackling is one of those things that goes beyond talent. Players we got in the last couple of offseasons are missing more tackles than is typical for them. It even felt like 'Chenna was before he got hurt. Frank Clark is popped, as they say when a player's career is finished, and seems to miss as often as make a stop, but I couldn't find the numbers with a cursory google. Brooks is having a good season, but I watch him whiff every game. Adams and Diggs maybe even more. And Reed, Woolen, 'Spoon, Love; every week I watch each of them fail to bring down a ball carrier. One of the reasons I was excited when we traded for young 2x All Pro Jamal Adams was that he was one of the surest tacklers in the league, averaging 5% missed tackles, to memory. This season, he's missing over 22%. It's one thing for an EDGE guy to not have a good angle and not finish a play on a running back, but it's bad news when your last lines of defense can't bring their man down.
Maybe there's a technological fix for this that might not count as live tackling according to the more recent contracts with the players. When was the last time that tackling dummies evolved? Could a gauntlet of some type be created that maybe doesn't absorb the tackle like a real player would but it could possibly still juke and spin and maybe even simulate a high step/hurdle? I'm grasping at straws at this point but there's been a very obvious decrease in play quality for a lot of positions that depend on physical contact to train and get better.
I don't think players should be causing brain injuries to each other in practice, but I think there's a gap that can and should be filled through innovating with training equipment
When was the last time that tackling dummies evolved?
No idea, but the ones I see on NFL Films are basically good quality versions of the ones we used to run into in practice in Shelby, NC in the 80's. Seems crazy to think robotics might be the key to safer practice one day, but from a recent show I watched right now they still can't open a doorknob to bring you coffee without spilling the coffee less than 50% of the time. I think we're a way off from something that could simulate running footsteps and know when to juke, but tech always snowballs really quickly once the designers cross those hurdles. And at some point, the robots will be better than the players, and what then?!
Then we'll have to figure out how to send people (and good robots) back in time to prevent the invention of the smart tackling dummies that became self aware and wiped out human civilization.
Very Good !
This is point on. How these professional players, many who were known as good tacklers, keep wiffing is beyond acceptable. i can see that during practice no team would want to have hard tackles against their own players but this lack of communication is beyond ken.