In baseball, the true-bloods will tell you, the secret to success is pitching…..To win and to be the best, you have to have, “good pitching”. In the end, it all comes down to, who has the best pitching…
It is much like that in football…..I don’t care who you have talked to over the years, the formula for success on the football field, at any level, will be measured by which team does the best job of blocking and tackling. Or in the line coach’s terms, or in just plain old laymen’s terms, “Blockin’ and Tacklin”…..
On the blocking end, who is putting their face-mask right in the other guy’s chest with forearms extended and then controlling the defenders upper body and driving that defensive opponent off the line and on down the field. It seems pretty simple, face in chest, extend those forearms like a mini-wingspan and get the leg-drive going and drive that guy on the other team, right on out of here…..
It sounds sort of simple and in some ways it is……The deal is, you have to do it, over and over again…..Sustain your block and take that defender right on down the field. You know the snap count as an offensive lineman, so you have the advantage. Drive ’em off the line, just like you were driving that blocking sled….
The team with the best blockers will win.
The team with the best tacklers will win….
On the tackling side of things, you do things in a similar way, as you do when blocking. Stick your face in the ball-carriers chest and attempt to make the perfect form-tackle.
The form-tackle is so important and I don’t think this plan has changed much over the years. You do the drills over and over, again and again….The back is running left and you get an angle on him and stick that face in his chest and wrap him up, as he moves to his left….You do the same thing, as he goes to his right….The same thing over and over again, as the back/ball carrier moves from side-to side….
This is the way you become the best tackler around, hit the runner, wrap him up and then take him to the ground.
Looking back on that tackling drill, it seems pretty simple and I guess it is, but you have to do it, over and over, again and again….Make contact face-first, then wrap him up and drive him to, or into the ground….Over and over, again and again, “the perfect form-tackle”…..
How many times have you heard the coach yell out , “you have to wrap him up”…..Learn to wrap that son-of-a-gun up and drive him to the ground and you could become the best tackler around…..
Again in the end, the teams that do the best job of blocking and tackling, or blockin’ and tacklin’, will win the football games……