Focal Tackling - Using Your Eyes to Make Plays

We know that football has become a game played in space – there is no denying that. In the last issue of AFM, we discussed the way that tackling has morphed from a semi-barbaric method of driving someone into the ground, into a more detailed approach based on where you are in the field. Because spread schemes get their athletes the ball in space, most defensive coaches preach to their players to “leverage” the ball or keep it inside the numbers and know where your help is. Tackling used to be all about bodying up a ball carrier and running your feet through the tackle, but because of the development of open offenses, now D-coordinators are combating that problem less with technique and more with tackling in tandems. There are still plenty of coaches placing an emphasis on the fundamentals of tackling – and most of them are teaching the same principles: keeping your eyes up,