NFL teams trending toward no tackling in Training Camp
By Jason Marcum
Every year when the NFL opens up training camp for all 32 teams across the league, the pads are thrown on, helmets are tightened, and chin-straps are buckled as player prepare to engage in “legalized assault” as some call it.Most players look to wrestle, hit punch and gain whatever kind of leverage they can against each other to either get to the football, or block for whoever is carrying it.
Now, it’s all about wrapping up ball-carriers instead of tackling them to the ground. In stead of looking to lay the wood on someone, players now look to give them a nice “love tap”, without exerting too much force into them.
At least, that’s the mentality new Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly is bringing to the NFL after a successful run at he University of Oregon:
"“When you get guys on the ground, it’s not really the two guys that get tackled, it’s what’s chasing it,” Kelly said. “We’re trying to keep everybody in every situation up. If I’m blocking my guy and I’m trying to finish to the whistle, two guys in front of me fell, that’s where the biggest thing occurs. It’s the pileups. Most of the time it’s not the tackle or the tackler, it’s the rest of the guys coming through. You have a lot of big bodies moving. There’s a fine line what we have to get done from a work standpoint. We also know we have to get our guys to the game, too.”"
With rise of injuries occurring during camp practices, it’s easy to see why this may be a smart idea. But the less time is spent on proper tackling technique, the more broken and missed tackles will occur, and that favors the offense even more in a league that has designed it’s rules to give offensive players an edge.