Need to get a grip- literally

JCTNJacket

JCTNJacket

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One thing I saw repeatedly in the beat down was runners going right through potential tackles, because the hand strength of the defenders could not stop them. I'd challenge strength and conditioning to measure grip strength before start of the off season, and set goals for improvement by start of summer camp. This may be obvious and already done, but I can think of at least a dozen plays where the play could have been stopped at line of scrimmage if the players who had contact with the runner could have held on long enough for support. We seemed weak at point of contact, especially hand strength.
 
JCTNJacket said:
One thing I saw repeatedly in the beat down was runners going right through potential tackles, because the hand strength of the defenders could not stop them. I'd challenge strength and conditioning to measure grip strength before start of the off season, and set goals for improvement by start of summer camp. This may be obvious and already done, but I can think of at least a dozen plays where the play could have been stopped at line of scrimmage if the players who had contact with the runner could have held on long enough for support. We seemed weak at point of contact, especially hand strength.
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That was a problem all season. I don't know if I've ever seen a team miss as many initial tackles as we did.

It's really demotivating to see a screen pass get snuffed out for what should be a two yard loss but turns into an eight yard gain because we can't tackle.
 
DressCheeseSideSeaboard said:
Strength and conditioning, while I agree it is a weakness, usually shows its ugly face in injuries.
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People on here have been praising our S&C relative to other teams for most of this year (at least on the conditioning side of things - staying strong for the whole 60 minutes), FWIW. I don't really know enough to judge. I haven't seen as much of the "dudes sucking wind and struggling to get up" as in years past.

JRjr
 
DressCheeseSideSeaboard said:
Arm tackles are poor technique due to poor coaching and being out of position.

Strength and conditioning, while I agree it is a weakness, usually shows its ugly face in injuries.
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I’d emphasize lateral quickness and footwork over grip strength. Having to run over someone is going to slow a runner more than someone grabbing him.
 
Our defenders take terrible angles to the ball carrier and look stupid in the process. It’s no different than FSU’s place kicker trying to tackle Austin a few years back - he had the mass to knock Austin down or OOB, but came in at a horrible angle and ended up helicoptering off Austin.
 
We seem prone to dive at the ball carrier in the open field which predictably ends badly. Really need to focus on technique to keep feet for DBs and LBs. This is what Morgan Burnett was so good at, he didn't come up and knock the crap out of ball carriers but he was on them like velcro/glue and made so many TD saving tackles it was ridiculous.
 
Tackling is wayyyyy more technique than strength and speed. S&S only gets you into position to make a tackle. Technique is then how you get the runner down to the ground. You can get a much bigger/stronger man to the ground easily with good technique. I am saying this because I was a good tackler back in the day and I tackled a 300 lb GT offensive linemen (who had a full head of steam) when we played tackle football in the snow in BDS in the blizzard of 93. Now that was probably the first tackle I've ever made that actually hurt like hell, but if I had pads on I wouldn't have even felt it (much).
 
Maybe we're just too slow to get into the proper position. And that can be slow to recognize, slow to react, or slow of foot speed. I haven't noticed any real burners suiting up in the white and gold recently.
 
savbandjacket said:
Our defenders take terrible angles to the ball carrier and look stupid in the process. It’s no different than FSU’s place kicker trying to tackle Austin a few years back - he had the mass to knock Austin down or OOB, but came in at a horrible angle and ended up helicoptering off Austin.
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Actually Aguayo took the correct angle, but Austin decelerated quickly causing him to overshoot.
 
Can we just play the tape from the Miami game for the defense and just point at it and say - Tackle like this guy. Any play will do.

I don't know if yards after contact is tabulated in college football but would estimate that we broke maybe one tackle the entire game (Cottrell).

I'll also add that I was a bit surprised to see the lack of improvement over the course of the season. I assumed CNW would have righted some wrongs as the year went on.

But getting back to grip strength, I recommend a Captains of Crush #1 for the entire defense.
 
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