The Seahawks are using a new style of tackling, and it could change the NFL

[Swanny]

Actually you don't (or should not) dip your head. The idea is to go from bottom up, so your head is always looking up.
And you don't make contact with the upper part of the shoulder. Contact is with the front part of the shoulder.

The article is bad written. The good thing about this technique is not about concussions, but to allow the smaller man to beat the bigger, on the run, one.
That's why you sidestep a second before contact, to make the tackle "twisting" the opponent center of gravity, instead of full frontal.

Samoans use this same technique, but as a high or stand contact. And there is no diference in concussion cases, with going up or low.

Watch these guys use this technique. The head is dipped. If they do it correctly then yeah its a good thing. But it is rarely used correctly. It puts these guys in dangerous positions if they do not use the technique EXACTLY right

 

[TwentyOne]

The Seahawks are using a new style of tackling, and it could change the NFL

By Scott Davis 34 minutes ago
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/seahawks-using-style-tackling-could-181615592.html

Despite a slow start to the season, the Seattle Seahawks still finished the season as one of the NFL's best defensive teams.


The "Legion of Boom" is notorious for its stingy, hard-hitting defense that squashes opposing offenses, but the Seahawks are at the forefront of a safer, revolutionary style of tackling.

ESPN's Sheil Kapadia detailed the Seahawks' effort to promote a new, rugby-style tackling method that has been paying dividends over the last three seasons.

It's been pushed by assistant head coach Rocky Seto, who after coaching at USC, joined Pete Carroll and the Seahawks in 2010. Seto has been promoting a different style of tackling that removes players' heads from the equation. According to Kapadia, Seto showed a visiting English coach the method in 2012, when the coach told him it looks like the way rugby players make tackles.

The basic idea is to target the hips and thighs and drive your shoulder into the opponent. Seto told Kapadia:...

I mean: stay low, aim for the middle of the player and then hit him with your shoulderpads and drive thru the player ? Dont go too high or too low because you may miss the tackle ?

DAMN! That should have been tought me before.

This is a frickin REVOLUTION!

 

[HeavyBarrel]

We were taught (late 80's early 90's) that the correct technique was to put our facemask (not crown of the helmet) right in the ball carrier's numbers. We also had to read out loud the warning label on the back of the helmet as we were issued our helmets.

 

[TwoDeep3]

The Seahawks are using a new style of tackling, and it could change the NF.

The basic idea is to target the hips and thighs and drive your shoulder into the opponent. Seto told Kapadia:...

I hope no one thinks this is late breaking stuff. They taught that back in the day when I played football. You know, the leather helmet era.

 

[BlindFaith]

We were taught (late 80's early 90's) that the correct technique was to put our facemask (not crown of the helmet) right in the ball carrier's numbers. We also had to read out loud the warning label on the back of the helmet as we were issued our helmets.

And that is what has lead to players now simply using their helmet as a weapon.

Theres a lot that goes into being a good tackler. Angles, positioning, breaking down, always seeing the target, getting low.

But making a safe sure tackle seldom gets you on ESPN. The knockout hit does.

And to be honest, if a running back is running straight at you and doesnt try to juke there is going to be a head on collision if the RB is looking for one.

Emmitt was real good about ducking those. Two extra yards is seldom worth the headache - literally.

 

[HeavyBarrel]

And that is what has lead to players now simply using their helmet as a weapon.

Theres a lot that goes into being a good tackler. Angles, positioning, breaking down, always seeing the target, getting low.

But making a safe sure tackle seldom gets you on ESPN. The knockout hit does.

And to be honest, if a running back is running straight at you and doesnt try to juke there is going to be a head on collision if the RB is looking for one.

Emmitt was real good about ducking those. Two extra yards is seldom worth the headache - literally.

Yea no doubt about the teqnique being flawed (and potentially dangerous) in fact I pinched a nerve in my neck in pre game doing that tackling drill, and it would occasionally flare up every couple of months for years....

Odd brag but when we would play tackle football without pads I was a heck of a tackler by simply doing the "head to the side" aim for the hips technique, no way would I put my face in the runners chest lol

 

[Nova]

Lead with your shoulder. Aim for the players trunk. Avoid contact with the head.

What a radically new approach to tackling in 2016. Props, Seahawks, for being on the forefront of this. Between this and Chip Kelly, we won't even recognize the game going forward.

Yeah pretty much how I was taught.

Don't know why I was expecting something like "lead with your knees"

 

[waving monkey]

Funny, if this was the Cowboys. We wouldn't be making fun of the article.

Oh if this was a Cowboy piece there would be a dog pile of ridicule

 

[Avery]

At least it ain't this:

 

[jobberone]

Just in case any young kids are listening, don't lead with your head....period.

If it is down then you can get hyperflexion. If it is back as in someone's chest then you can get hyperextension. If you add one of those to enough rotational movement then you can make things worse in a hurry. In fact there are a significant number of you walking around (or playing football) with enough cervical stenosis to get injured anyway esp if you tackle improperly.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

 

[CowboyManDan]

That was the way I was taught to tackle in highschool football 20 years ago. Nothing new there.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

It is funny. You have NFL coaches and consultants talking about doing something now uncommon around the league....but we have armchair football professionals saying they are all full of it.

The height of arrogance.

There has been a shift that has gone on for decades now where tacklers were taught to use their head as a weapon. Simple fact.

It is good that coaches are getting back to the fundamentals.

 

[CyberB0b]

It is funny. You have NFL coaches and consultants talking about doing something now uncommon around the league....but we have armchair football professionals saying they are all full of it.

The height of arrogance.

There has been a shift that has gone on for decades now where tacklers were taught to use their head as a weapon. Simple fact.

It is good that coaches are getting back to the fundamentals.

Yeah, Pete Carroll is an idiot. He knows nothing about football.

 

[Beast_from_East]

You mean you are not supposed to launch yourself and spear your opponent with the crown of your helmet?

 

[Nightman]

It is funny. You have NFL coaches and consultants talking about doing something now uncommon around the league....but we have armchair football professionals saying they are all full of it.

The height of arrogance.

There has been a shift that has gone on for decades now where tacklers were taught to use their head as a weapon. Simple fact.

It is good that coaches are getting back to the fundamentals.

Its not arrogance at all to laugh that fundamentals have gotten so bad that they think teaching 'old school' form tackling is innovative.

In fact most teams are trying to strip to the ball over any kind of real tackling but DBs launching themselves had become an epidemic of bad form.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Its not arrogance at all to laugh that fundamentals have gotten so bad that they think teaching 'old school' form tackling is innovative.

In fact most teams are trying to strip to the ball over any kind of real tackling but DBs launching themselves had become an epidemic of bad form.

If nobody is doing something that everyone else used to do and you bring it back after decades of non use.... That's not innovative?

After all all it was Mark Twain who famously said...

"There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages."

 

[BoysfanfromCanada]

If there's one hit/'tackle' that I think should be taken out of the game, it's the one where a player or two have the runner tied up and almost to the ground, and another player (usually a safety or linebacker) comes in full speed with his helmet and goes for the kill shot, and basically just throws his body head first into the pile, hoping to stop forward momentum. JJ Wilcox does this all the time and it pisses me off, since it usually leads to an injury of his own player (pretty sure it's how Ro McClain got concussed the last time). It's lazy, and so dangerous (how many times do we see guys out of the game from a hit from their own player, most of the time it's this type of 'hit'), when just coming in and helping by tying up the runner would be much more effective. Once in a while it'll lead to a fumble, if the helmet hits the ball just right, but more often than not the helmet will hit another player in the head, concussing them.

Hopefully y'all understand what I'm talking about.

 

[csirl]

Ironic. Concussion is an even bigger problem in rugby than football. Lack of helmets and the 'whiplash' inducing style of tackling is lethal.

One of the reasons for the huge growth in Europe in recent years is because football is seen as a safer sport. We also don't have the scrum paralysis issue.