Get Your Head Right
Posted: August 8th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 31 Comments »Bill Davis has talked about the need for better head placement when it comes to Eagles players improving their tackling. To a lot of people, this makes complete sense. To others, they don’t really understand.
Watch this PE.com piece on Nate Allen. He’s doing a sit-down interview with Dave Spadaro and they mix in a slew of highlights from last year. In almost every clip, Nate puts his head behind the runner or receiver. You can then see that Nate has to reach to make the tackle. He also has to drag down the runner/receiver.
Part of this is technique. Part is simple aim. Defenders need to run to where the ball is going to be, not where it is. You must anticipate. If the defender takes a good angle and gets his head in front of the ball, it is much easier to make the tackle. There is less reaching and the defender can use the momentum of his body to deliver a hit instead of dragging the offensive player to the ground.
It will be interesting to see if Nate shows any improvement vs the Bears. Bill Davis made it sound like that was a priority for the Eagles in practice. If Nate has been paying attention, he should be better at this starting in the Bears game.
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Just a quick post for now. I’ll be writing a full preview for later.
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This is going to change my life.
I am saying all the time, “Anticipate. Get your head out in front. Think about the angle and you will be able to take it down much easier. Make that head a focal point. This is what I am paying you for.”
Next time, this video will help me explain the misunderstanding. to the arresting officer.
From Sheil: “Asked yesterday about the Eagles’ depth chart, [Kelly] said: “Seriously, the depth chart, I don’t care. I think [Eagles PR Director] Derek [Boyko] did it.”
Wow, nice work, Derek. When did that happen?
If you’re thinking of “Iggles Blog Derek,” then it’s a totally different Derek.
Oh, really? I was.
Never mind, then. Carry on.
Regardless, Derek Boyko is a good follow on Twitter if you have it.
Maybe you’re not as intelligent as you think you are. It’s really stupid to think the depth chart was written by Iggles Blog Derek, you know.
As a Brit who played a little rugby in school, this seems counter-intuitive to me. We were always taught to get your head behind the ball carrier wherever possible because if you put your head in front you’re much more likely to get a knee in the face and, as a result, a brain/neck injury.
Maybe that was just because I was in school and not showing much promise anyway and at the higher levels they’d be encouraging people to tackle the other way or maybe it’s a result of the superman complex that comes from wearing a helmet – either way it seems a little curious to me.
I think many players are nervous about doing it and that causes them to put the head on the wrong side of the body.
it’s taught in pop warner, it’s taught in HS, it’s taught in college. Head in front.
I just can’t wait for football. Sure it’s preseason but at this point, I’ll take any football I can get…I even watched the Giants ._.
Well the Ryan mallet bubble has burst in New England now they all want to trade him for anything at all
He looked bad last night?
Didn’t watch but per talk radio, horrible. And the rookie looked good.
Yeah I just saw Jimmy’s stats….Niners expecting 6-8 game suspension for Aldon which would have him missing the eagles game
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NFL network needs to get it’s head out of it’s ass… They are showing the end of preseason games, and by the time they switch over to the next game, we already missed the first string players…who is the genius at NFL network that has us missing the starters, so we can see the 5th string play in the 4th quarter? Smh sooooo dumb
I came across how Pete Carroll teaches the Hawks how to tackle n it’s geared towards more of a rugby style in which the tackler throws his shoulder into the target, not the head. Carroll pointed out there are less major injuries to the head area in rugby due to the omission of the head in this technique. While this technique is different to the NFL’s, it is still effective hence the Seahawk’s recent success.
Shouldn’t have Nate gotten that message last year? Or are we saying it takes Nate about 1.5 years to get the message?
In fairness it was his best year as an eagle, and he had to show a certain degree of growth tp be brought back on a 1yr deal….doubt he has it in him to play well enough to get a Multi year extension,,.he just babysitting the position into Wolff, Reynolds or a future safety we draft can grab a hold of the other starting spot.
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With that’s said, I can’t stand the way Nate plays the position and I don’t think he has a ton of unrealized potential to tap into…he hasn’t reached his ceiling yet, but I’m not really sure his ceiling is high enough to be the Longterm answer
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Wolff ceiling is Bob Sandersish…. Hopefully he realizes his full potential and brings Longterm stability to the position
Considering how horrible we have been at tackling Andy’s last few years, I’m more than happy with the year one improvements we made in proving our tackling. After this second offseason we should see a really efficient tackling defense. ..
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I would like to see Nate improve on it, but more important for me is to see Nate play an aggressive brand of ball, or as Malcolm put it “cut it loose”
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We will see an Eagles defense that’s going to get after it this year and attack offenses. Can’t have Nate out there playing the position scared. If he is going to make a mistake, do it knocking someone’s head off playing fast. He can’t play to not make mistakes..
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Malcolm will be a pleasant surprise to fans that thought it was Byrd or bust, hopefully by the end of this season, Wolff or Nate will have grabbed that other Safety position by the throat so we can stop playing musical chairs with the safety position
Anyone know how Andy is operating training camp for the Cheifs?ndoes he still have his players tackle and beat on each other during camp, or has he also switched to “THUD”tackling?
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A 4th for Barkley would be a steal, and you’d be right to take it. The only recent QB trades that I can think of, besides the Raiders getting robbed blind on the Carson Palmer deal, was the two seconds for Alex Smith and the 6th for Shaub. But they’re all starters or close to it, and Barkley is decidedly not. Beyond that, it’s just that 6th for All American Blaine Gabbert, and I’m not sure that Barkley is even better than him. He’s either riding our bench to develop, or some other team is getting him for free when he doesn’t develop and gets cut.
Barkley has been a fist team starter on every team he’s ever played on, until last year. Don’t think he’s not being cocky by saying he hopes to get good film on himself this pre-season – he still has a starter’s mentality. Assuming the O-linemen they play with provide adequate pass protection, I expect Barkley and Sanchez to look good running the offense. Keep in mind, Sanchez has said the same thing regarding good tape – he’s looking for a starting gig opp. for next season as well.
Foles is the real deal, if Barkley was playing behind Rogers or Brady or Manning or Luck or Kaepernick or Wilson, he’d be saying the same thing. I’m sure he’d love the opportunity to compete against Jake Locker or Brian Hoyer or Ryan Fitzpatrick or Josh McCown or Chad Henne or EJ Manuel or Matt Schaub or even Sam Bradford for a starting job.
Personally, I think Chip can win with Barkley at QB – especially with the skill players surrounding him. Barkley has won a lot of games and played in a lot of pressure situations in his career – I think Chip values that in his QBs (Sanchez – AFC Championship games). If you think about it, Barkley’s career trajectory was through the roof, until the shoulder injury and Lame Kiffin farewell tour, so he’s lived a lot more years believing he’s the best than having to battle for an opportunity to prove it. Let’s see how this pre-season plays out before throwing in the towel on Barkley.
Barkley throwing the towel on himself. I’m not the one that said he should be concerned with putting out good tape to audition for the rest of the league..l he did it. Not me… I never said he can’t be capable under Chip, but I doubt he would EVER beat out Sanchez, let alone Folesy
I hope Jaylen is 4.3 fast on the field. He’s going up against some speedy receivers in the future if we don’t draft/sign some guys. Reynolds might turn some heads today, I have hope for the guy but some people still can’t get over one bad season.
The Barkley thing is fine. Stay hungry is the mentality most players thrive for isn’t it?
I don’t expect much from Reynolds this year but I do think he has a chance to have a nice career. Kid was a real playmaker two seasons ago
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Exited to see backup front 7
…..Hart……Beau……Kruger
Marcus..Goode…Knott…….Long/Braman
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But the most important thing to see in Preseason is finding out what we have on our bench in terms of OL
I was checking out the standings on the Philadelphia Eagles website and it’s nice to see they sit atop the NFC East standings at 0-0. Don’t get too comfortable though, Dallas is in second place with Washington and NY not far behind.
Washington has a game up in the preseason. Time to fold like a Romo in December.
What are the performance stipulation on Stevie Johnson so we can get that 2016 third rounder?
Got a pizza and a 12 pack of PBR. Bring on the football.
that sounds like great foreplay
Interesting: they brought a “slip n slide” to Novacare so FOles could work on sliding and avoiding hits
that’s fucking awesome, and pretty smart