When I was a defensive coordinator, we adopted an attacking style of defense where we put enormous pressure on the offenses we faced. One key to our success was being very good tacklers. The season before we gave up 40 points a game and missed countless tackles. To improve our defense, we knew we had to tackle better. We spent a lot of time teaching and practicing tackling. One of the most important things we did was emphasize a measurable form of accountability for our tackling.
Accountability For Tackling
We wanted everyone in the program to be accountable to our tackling success. To do this, we wanted to quantify the impact of a missed tackle We began to chart yards after contact. How many yards did the ball carrier gain after we made contact with them? We then came up with a simple system to hold players accountable for missing tackles in a meaningful way.
We came up with a very simple system. For every yard we gave up, we would have sprints every day at the end of practice the following Monday through Thursday. If we gave up 100 yards after contact, we had 100 yards of sprints at the end of practice. We broke these down into 10 yard increments. We then would add 5 yards for every missed tackle. If we missed 20 tackles, we would have another 100 yards of sprints.
When we introduced this to the players, we explained to them why we were doing it. Was it going to hurt? Yes. But what really was going to hurt was losing a game because we failed to get the ball carrier to the ground. We wanted to exchange some pain in practice to avoid the disappointment of losing because we didn't perform.
Once our players understood the "why" of our tackling accountability, they bought in 100%. They wanted to be successful, and they understood that accountability was a big part of success. When kids understand the why of what you are doing, and the benefit of doing it, they are going to jump in full speed.
As we talked to our players about tackling, we showed them film of good and bad tackles. One thing that we saw repeated was what we called "assumption tackles." An assumption tackle is where you assume your teammate is going to make a play, so you slow down your pursuit of the football. We coached them to never assume the tackle would be made. Your job is to be in a position to help on the tackle. The more tacklers we could get to the football, the more of a chance we would have of getting the ball carrier to the ground.
It seems simple. Everyone runs to the football. But it is human nature to be average. It is human nature to take the easy way out. When the ball carrier is stopped, players have a tendency to stop. We had to teach, coach, and drill our guys on not assuming someone else would make the play. Do your job, pursue the football, and play full speed until the ball carrier is on the ground.
If a guy misses a tackle and you are in position to make the play immediately, he may not gain any yards after the missed tackle. But if you slow down because you assume, the ball carrier is going to gain more yards after a missed tackle.
The Results
In our first scrimmage we saw major improvement from the season before, but we still struggled with missed tackles. We had 22 missed tackles, and gave up 105 yards after contact. For the yards after missed tackles we had 105 yards in sprints. We added 5 yards for every missed tackle. That was another 110 yards in sprints. We had a total of 215 yards in sprints in 10 yard increments. We always rounded up, so the 215 became 220. This meant we had 22 ten yard sprints to end practice. It wasn't fun. We didn't enjoy it. But like most things we don't enjoy, we learned.
In our second scrimmage we made huge strides. We missed 14 tackles and gave up 56 yards after contact. We had guys encouraging each other to make tackles. We started to see our effort increase. On the third play of the scrimmage we had a guy miss a tackle, get up, and pursue the ball as it cut back across the field. He ended up getting a missed tackle and a solo tackle on the same play.
In our first game of the season, we missed 10 tackles and had 35 yards after contact. Because we tackled well, we posted a shutout. In fact, we didn't give up a first down until the 4th quarter. We continued this trend through the season, posting 6 shutouts and giving up 6.8 points per game.
As we went through the season, we found our tackling greatly improved. Each game we gave up less and less yards after contact. Because we tackled well, we gave up very few first downs. Because we weren't giving up first downs, teams were not able to score as many points against us. We also were able to get off the field faster, meaning we were fresh late in the game. In fact, we had 9 games where we didn't give up a point in the second half.
Tackling Is More Than Accountability
I credit our accountability as a big part of our success, but we also became much better at teaching tackling. We changed everything we did as far as tackling goes. We changed our tackling drills, our tackling circuit, and our tackling mindset. A big part of tackling comes down to playing with great leverage and angles, and being in the right position to make a tackle. We also spent time in the weight room building our core strength and hip flexibility, as this is vital to tackling.
Defense comes down to lining up right, playing with great effort, tackling, and creating takeaways. If you don't tackle, your defense will not ever be good. It is frustrating when you miss tackles. When you build your defense and your practice plans, make tackling an emphasis. Go through your film and determine where you struggled to make tackles, and figure out how to fix your tackling. Then, add some sort of quantifiable way to hold your players accountable for their tackling on the field.
I wish you the best as you prepare for the upcoming season. If you are looking for some resources that will help you in your preparation, I have put together some things that coaches at all level of football are using with their programs. Not only will these help you be more organized, they will save you valuable time on the weekends.
When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation!
Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith
Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy.
I would invite you to read the book and discover the possibilities that God has planned for your life.
Last year I got hooked up with CoachTube, and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points!
https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint
All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points.
The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season.
My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts.
https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint
