Originally posted by Joecool:Originally posted by 5280High:Originally posted by Marvin49:Originally posted by Joecool:Originally posted by 5280High:
There is also the health issue... not many 200 pnd DB's wanna open up their wingspan to tackle the likes of AP, Andre Johnson, Peyton Hillis, etc. at full speed. When the average NFL collission is equivalent to 30mph car crash... It's safer to keep your arms inside the vehicle. As much as the lack of tackling fundamentals is difficult to watch, if all these DB's started opening up their arms to start securing tackles... dislocated shoulders, broken forarms & wrists, dislocated fingers are gonna be on the rise and starters are gonna fall. It's easier to play the LB position with a club for an arm (ala P. Willis) than it is for a DB.
The bold is so true. It's very easy to injure these parts of your arm when you open them up.
lol
Ugh, yeah... all parts of an isolated limb are substantially easier to break than one thats held into the body, especially when that limb is trying to halt a 215+ pnd brick of muscle at full speed.
I have gotten more shoulder stingers and bone bruises to my forearms tackling with my arms spread wingspan than I can remember.
I would have to say the best and safest method to tackle is to keep your arms low and elbows sort of inside, make the hit with your mask and shoulders and then thrust your arms up to make the wrap.
That is fundamentally sound tackling, providing you're keeping your head up when leading with your mask.
The NFL is just so fast that most players outside of linebackers, and D-lineman don't have those base fundamentals in their muscle memory to make a proper tackle in a game situation. This is total speculation on NFL coaching, but looking at the size and speed of players in the NFL, if the DB doesn't have the ball carrier lined up perfectly for a fundamentally sound tackle... it seems that some coaches are telling the players to keep their arms in and go for more of a chip/check type of tackle if their angles are off or the ball-carrier makes a move at the last second. Over the other situation of sticking an arm out to clothesline the legs/upperbody which has allot higher risk of injury.
This could also be on a player by player basis. Let's pretend we did sign Nnamdi, if I'm his secondary coach I'm telling him to keep his arms inside for a tackle no matter what and try to chop out a leg of the ball carrier with his body. But if it's Phillip Adams, Im telling him to break down, wrap up and be fundamentally sound.
That's my conspiracy theory anyway... the lack of proper tackling by DB's has been an issue for a very long time. But just the speed of the game and the fact that DB's are typically the smallest players on the field, just makes me think that coaches are more concerned with DB's directing the play back to the middle of the field rather than shedding blocks and making tackles, especially if that player is Revis, Nnamdi, McCourtey etc.. Not that DB's cant make tackles, but it's not their main job, and because of the talent difference between a starter and a backup, I dont think tackling is as emphasized as it was in the past, or on other levels with smaller athletes like in college and highschool where even kickers take part in tackling drills.