Seahawks Tackling

hi this is coach Pete Carroll the Seattle Seahawks and with the leadership who are defensive passing game coordinator rocky Seto we've put together a film to present our style of tackling techniques it's a system that we've been teaching and utilizing for the last four years at the Seahawks and since our days at USC to break it down our tackling system features a shoulder tackling and a renewed emphasis to take the head out of tackling we've found our style to be successful in the NFL in college and we believe it could be employed on all levels we're passionate about teaching this style of tackling because we desire to keep the standards of the game high and make the game as safe as possible to explain further we our shoulder leverage tackling team we have found that we can practice and drill are tackling without pads or helmet we can train and develop our safe tackling system in shorts and t-shirts and it's a system that we believe will work on all levels and during all phases of year in season off season and spring football how we teach this system of tackling was recently inspired by those who play rugby around the world rugby players have taken the head out of the game and truly exemplify shoulder tackling you'll see several clips of rugby tackle throughout the film we've broken this instructional video down into six segments hock tackle hock roll tackle profile tackle strike zone tracking and compression tackle we'll go into each teaching point more in depth later the basis of our passion in this video is to maintain the physical integrity of the game while developing safer tackling techniques we desire to play the game as tough as it is meant to be played while also making the game safer we hope you learn and enjoy as you watch the following film tracking this closing the distance with the ball carrier while maintaining our leverage as we approach making contact we key the near hip of the ball carrier number 31 tracks the near hip as he closes the distance with the wide receiver [Music] number fifty makes an inside-out leverage tackle closing in on the near hip of the running back the defense event number 91 adjusts his approach as the running back changes his path this allows 91 to maintain his leverage the tracking drill we use is called run and gathered number twenty nine will run and gather while closing the distance on the ball carrier number forty one closes on the ball carrier until he can contact him notice how he maintains the tackling posture with a shoulder square here's a good look at number 79 ad lineman tracking number seven number twenty-nine is tracking the near hip using the boundary as leverage as he makes a sideline tackle we are shoulder tackling came our hawk tackle is a shoulder leverage tackle contacting the ball carrier on the thighs our coaching points our eyes through the thighs wrap and squeeze drive for five when necessary the ball carrier generally goes down immediately with Hawk tackles as number 29 tackles the running back he contacts the ball carrier on the thighs with his right shoulder number twenty-five maintains his leverage on the ball carrier and makes a right shoulder tackle hitting him through the thighs number 41 makes another hawk tackle with his left shoulder notice number 31 driving his feet on contact drive for five this is when the ball carrier does not go down immediately in the core of the defense number 50 makes a textbook hawk tackle on a downhill runner [Music] number 31 maintains his leverage in contacts with his right shoulder at the thighs and squeezes the ball-carrier spies into his chest POC roll tackles on shoulder leverage tackles at the thighs that finish with the ball carrier being wrapped up at the thighs and rolled to the ground it's similar to a hawk tackle but with the addition of a roll at the finish of the tackle our coaching points are eyes through the thighs wrap and squeeze roll number 31 attacks the receiver at the thighs and rolls the ball carrier to the ground [Music] number 92 at nose tackle will come off the block and Hawk roll tackle the running back in space number 29 will contact the wide receiver with his right shoulder and wrap and roll at the thighs [Music] coming from the middle number 31 will make a right shoulder Hawk roll Tafel [Music] profile tackles our shoulder leverage tackles that make contact with the near breast plate of the ball carrier which we call the near PEC these are tackles that are made generally above the waist our coaching points our attack the near PEC wrap and drive for five number twenty-nine makes a left shoulder hit through the near PEC of the ball carrier and begins to drive for five hard steps [Music] number 31 makes a left shoulder profile tackle number 91 the near defensive end tracks the ball carrier and makes a right shoulder profile tackle drive for five when a ball carrier does not go down immediately drive for five is the trigger term that encourages our players to drive for five hard steps upon contact with the ball carrier this is a good example of drive for five hard steps number fifty-four makes a right shoulder hock tackle and drives for five hard steps oftentimes the hawk tackle takes the ball carrier to the ground immediately before the defender can get that done but the emphasis is on driving your feet through the tackle hawk tackles eyes through the thighs wrap and squeeze drive for five when necessary we open our hot tackling for my knees okay the ball carrier is going to move left or through this right okay and then if you step to your left I'm on the squeeze and just about that good [Music] yep nice so again you get your eyes up [Music] this is a great look at a leveraged Hawk tackle and the rapid squeeze element by number 31 okay let now we're working the hawk tackle and then reduce from a standing position and working 11th Lok a triangle ball carriers would run to this point choppers gonna look just play this would be as he's tracking the near hip the inside hit for the bulk here this should be a right shoulder hit to the tackler James Dean were tackling Isis - left and we're gliding for five take him to the ground this we're not using any helmets and it was still via to bring these guys down in this practice there you go say good yup FinFET say aye sir - wrap dry for five good I surprised rats rifle fire this is an example of a crossface hawk tackle when the ball carrier attempts to cross 25s leverage this is another crossface Hawk tackle when number 50 as he strikes with his right shoulder notice that even with the crossface tackle the heavy remains out of the play that good [Music] number twenty tracks the near hip and makes the left shoulder hot tackle [Music] so hip nice hock roll tackles our coaching points are eyes through the thighs wrap and squeeze roll number 79 makes a right shoulder Hawk roll tap [Music] number twenty-nine ends up in a left shoulder Hawk roll tackle position [Music] the hawk will tackle is similar to the hawk tackle and the sense of we're going ice to the thighs contacting their shoulders rapping this time we're willing to the side of our leverage often time happens with cloud forests or sky force or back of force type outside in leverage its we're contacting where sailors eyes to the thighs without swell and then we're for leverage so we're already working at them the leverage point and what we're doing this oh well my near fit up split in his crotch okay I'm gonna get I get live getting my eyes through his guys the ball care stars I'm gonna squeal one hop into my role set hip roll excellent excellent there we go set hit Isis thighs wrap and roll yeah nice song say hey nice say wrap and roll excellent excellent coming from his inside-out leverage position number 29 makes a left shoulder Hawk roll tackle [Music] this is a good example of number 29 tracking and maintaining proper leverage as he makes a left shoulder puck roll tap [Music] number 31 tracks and makes a right shoulder hot roll tackle [Music] alright who don't launch they go say hi to the sighs rap roll nice check Oh nice nice huh that's good that's good dad okay [Music] [Music] number 31 tracks and makes a right shoulder hock roll tackle [Music] we practice full speed Hawk roll tackles with bags simulating the outside thigh of the ball carrier [Music] number 41 carries his momentum to roll the ball carrier over him say good nice say nice nice shop yeah nice shot nice shot pool file tackles are shoulder tackles contacting through the near PEC of the ball carrier above the waist our coaching points are strike through the near PEC wrap drive for five [Music] number thirty-one does a nice job of striking the near PEC and driving his feet through the tackle strike through the near PEC wrap drive for five second nice [Applause] [Music] so kay nice [Music] sad go [Music] say it go [Music] notice here how number 29 is driving for five number thirty-one shows how we emphasize striking with your shoulder and rapping before driving for five number seven is two strikes through the near PEC in this clip [Music] this drill is designed to work on how you strain through a profile tackle we emphasize the strain it takes to drive for five hard steps the chest shield simulates the near PEC bag holders should provide some resistance before being driven on to the crash pad as we have mentioned we are a leverage tackling team compression tackles are simultaneous tackles that take place with two or more defenders with each tackler owning their leverage on the ball carrier and striking with the proper shoulders compression tackles can occur with players from a combination of position groups once we've learned our fundamental tackling techniques we apply those techniques in combination with other players and by situations here's a compression tackle with linebackers and DBS look how they use their leverage to make a solid tackles here's an example of two defensive linemen driving for five finishing the ball carrier both tacklers closed and tracked the respective near hip of the ball carrier both will get the near foot up as they close in to within striking range number 37 and number 34 plus side defenders must turn back the ball carrier and the backside defender must close [Music] here's an example of defensive back in the defensive linemen here's an example of a cornerback in a linebacker you can see a hawk tackle down low in a profile tackle up high and here's an example of a linebacker in a defensive lineman the strike zone applies to tackling defenseless opponents the zone is classified as below the neck and above the knees just like a baseball strike zone we make contact using our shoulders at all times especially in the strike zone the helmet of both the tackler and the ball carrier are out of the game number 50 does a phenomenal job of adjusting his aiming point as the receiver lowers his body and the strike zone consequently drops [Music] [Music] although this play was flagged in the game it was later ruled a legal hit because number 31 contacted the receiver inside the strike zone [Music] here are several more examples of defenders hitting the ball carrier or receiver inside the strike zone [Music] we never wanted to take a step backwards in terms of the physical side of the game we loved the aggressive side we want to be able to maintain the toughness the physicality that that has always been inherent to the game of football and hopefully you can see here that we're able to do that and and play safe and keep the head out of out of the game my guys take great pride in their ability to play physical football and do it the right way we think we can get this done and we think you can too [Music] we drill this by giving our tacklers a moving strike zone simulated by the chest shield which encourages the tackler to mindfully locate the strike zone [Music] thank you for joining us as we introduce you to our tackling system we hope you learned the value of shoulder tackling and the importance of taking the head out of the game we would love to hear your feedback as we continue this dialogue you helped make this great sport even better for the generations to come

Channel: Robert Ruston

Views: 1,130,542

Rating: 4.9464073 out of 5

Keywords: football, headsup, tackling

Id: kLldjE6vvFs

Length: 21min 21sec (1281 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 07 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/themadpants]

This is something all NFL teams should do.

Just last week there was a spinal injury from a head first tackle: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000889243/article/ryan-shazier-undergoes-spinal-stabilization-surgery

Video of the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_a-l4a-qgw

Listen to the commentators too. :/

It really needs to be talked about.

[u/rhamish]

Nothing like overcomplicating a fundamental and giving it some lame ass names - hawk tackle, hawk roll tackle, profile tackle, strike zone, tracking, compression tackle.

[u/The-Sentinel]

Something worth bearing in mind with NFL is that a lot of defence relies upon the fact they're trying to minimise yardage as much as possible.

Wrapping up will always bring a player down, but they may get 1/2 extra yards in the process. The Seahawks have a defensive policy of bending and not breaking, so allowing an extra yard here and there for the first down won't matter all that much, because they believe eventually they'll stop the other team (and they usually do).

Another consideration is that the game is designed to reward individual plays. While wrapping up and stopping the player is of course always good, forcing a fumble and dislodging the ball is way better, and the chance of that happening is reduced with good tackling.

So, ultimately, I find it hard to believe this'll catch on in the wider NFL any time soon unless there are rule changes.

[u/TheStroBro]

This is called proper tackling, it used to be widespread. Now they stop punishing guys for poor form in tackling. Not that it's going to reduce concussions, you don't have to receive an impact to the head to suffer TBI.

[u/NinjaSous]

I've been talking about this since I started watching rugby a couple years ago. I grew up playing football and it seems like rugby is a safer sport even though there isn't any pads. I wish it was more popular over here.

[u/mrclean650]

Fundamentally tackling in both games is very different. A rugby tackle in football is considered a poor "arm" tackle. Rugby tackling isn't as effective since there is limited range of motion with pads and it's harder to wrap the same ways at the legs. I learned the hard way early by getting my eye split open by "football" tackling in rugby. The fact of the matter is that the pads make football a far more dangerous game inherently and there is only so much you can do to increase safety.

[u/squatdog_nz]

Also in breaking news...

WE LANDED ON THE MOON!

[u/Fresh_Platypus]

Real recognize real

[u/retroalco]

Bit worried about their head positions in the fall. With the tackled player landing on top of the tackler’s head you are risking neck injuries. Saw a number of examples that would have me taking my (school age) player aside and cautioning them.