Tackling the Problem
by ShyandObese on Dec 29, 2011 11:47 AM MST
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PrintIts no doubt that the issue of tackling has come up pretty consistently with Broncos teams since around 2006-7.
Although every year is different, the end result is similar, bad tackling usually equates to big plays. Here I'm going to try to reveal the tackling abilities of our defensive players.
Before I get started, I know as a team we need to improve our tackling and one thing Ive seen change from early on is gang-tackling. I great example is that highlight of Gronkowski running over and carrying redskins players. If you watch that play, it should have stopped much earlier but Hall stopped pursuit because he believed the DB (who was hanging on Gronkowski) was gonna bring him down since he had him wrapped up. This is such a terrible mindset as a defensive player. The guys have to WANT to bring him down and inflict punishment. That attitude will improve team tackling immensely. Pursuit should never be given up even if the guy has 3 players on him all our guys have to want a piece of the action.
I dont think it should surprise you that our tackling problem lies with mostly our DB's. Here is the tackling skill of some of our defensive players:
*Note: The Linebackers and D-lineman especially can all tackle obviously and at their size technique is not as big an issue.
Linebackers:
D.J. Williams (WLB and MLB)
Has always been able to tackle. Can lay the wood on occasion (one against Calvin Johnson was great). Wraps sometimes and gets gives the ball carrier a few more yards than he should given his size. Grade: B+
Von Miller (SLB)
Excellent. Especially considering his size. Has great technique in the open field and takes good angles, never ceases pursuit. Grade: A
(People really underestimated his strength coming out, elite for his size just like his speed)
Joe Mays (MLB)
Hardest hitting Bronco. Elite talent in goal-line short yardage situations. Doesn't have great form all the time. Takes bad angles and is only good in pursuit between the hashes. Has excellent vision but decision making and speed are not always there. Grade: B-, (A in short yardage and C- in open field)
Wesley Woodyard (WLB)
via nimg.sulekha.com
Great form tackler especially considering his size. Gets dragged at times because he is undersized.
grade: B
Defensive Backs:
Champ Bailey CB
via nbcprofootballtalk.files.wordpress.com
This would have been an A+ a few years ago but Champ is not as aggressive as he once was. It might be that he doesn't want to risk injury but at one point this was the best tackling corner in the league bar none. He is still good but he has missed tackles this season. Grade: B
Our worst tackler. A grabby guy who rarely makes form tackles. Its important to note that he is excellent in coverage.
Grade: D
Rahim Moore FS
via d.yimg.com
Also grabby although at times makes good tackles taking the legs out from under the runner. Takes bad angles.
Grade: D+
Chris Harris CB
Our best tackler. He stops the runner at the point of attack. Takes their legs out from under them and allows very few if any yards after contact. I love his tackling ability. Grade: A+
Can lay the wood at times but takes bad angles and doesn't wrap up. He made some pretty key tackles a few weeks ago. Grade: C+
David Bruton SS
via i.usatoday.net
Bruton can make a hit on a guy. His issue is with getting out of his breaks. He is very fast in a straight line but when he breaks down he isnt quick enough out of the hole and gets juked. He also took some bad angles last season.
Grade: C+
IMO Kyle was the best tackling DB in college football one of his years in Notre Dame. If he got a hand on a guy they were going down. He was really that good. I dont know why it hasn't translated as well. Grade: B-
This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR
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Nice job.
This summer will make a big difference in that dept.
It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.
Thanks. I think the lack of offseason did effect this
Fox’s teams are generally good tacklers.
by ShyandObese on Dec 29, 2011 12:38 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
Agree and rec'd.
It all starts in the trenches - HT 11/11/08
Leave the hateful vitriol to the uninformed - HT 3/16/09
I think you give Mays too much credit for the hard hits and not enough credit for his horrible tackling.
He is a C- IMO
Tim Tebow wears 3WM and drinks Tuscan whole milk.
I expected that argument to be made and I cant say I disagree very strongly
I will say that he brings a lot to the table in short yardage situations and I dont mean just making tackles. He takes out out blockers which allows our other guys to make plays. I think C- is a little harsh. He is not that bad. He is pretty bad in the open field (maybe C-) but he leaves on 3rd downs anyway so he hasnt been in that position too often.
I personally think he is bad at the line as well. I've seen so many opportunities for him to stop a play at the line of
scrimmage only to see a broken arm tackle because of bad technique or a bad angle. I’ve also seen him struggle to get off blocks. It isn’t just open field tackling IMO. If he can get a solid head on hit he is usually good but that is too few and far between IMO. I think his place is as a back up and on ST.
Tim Tebow wears 3WM and drinks Tuscan whole milk.
by BroncoMath101 on Dec 30, 2011 10:12 AM MST up reply actions
Yeah I know what kind of plays your talking about thats angles
He takes bad angles which leave him in a bad position by the time he reaches the ball carrier, forces arm tackles.
Good analysis!
We need a couple more As and A+s — when we only have our star pass-rusher and a UFA CB as the prominent form tacklers, there is a glaring issue.
I hope metalman is right — I’d be really disappointed if this mis-tackling continues into next season.
Rec’d, btw. :)
Thank you
tackling has plagued us since shanny’s years. Im pretty confident that Fox will improve this area over the off-season, in fact I’m really looking forward to this teams progress with an off-season under this management.
Part of that, I suspect is being out of position a lot
A Defensive General on the field will help a lot, too.
The defense as a whole did a better job of tackling earlier in the year...
Their roll off of that production may have to do with teams scheming now to the Broncos’ weaknesses where before they didn’t really have the film to study. Hamstrung with this nonoffseason I have to give the Broncos a pass even though after 16 weeks as a unit they should be where they wanted to be in terms of tackling, covering, pass rushing and defending the run. They’ve struggled at times with the run stop and passing game, but then they seem to step up and make plays. There have been untimely foolish penalties that have let opponents extend drives that would have been ended if ti we’ren’t for those dumb fouls. I believe in the offseason there will be a focus on tackling technigue that hasn’t been addressed during the season because of time constraints.
"What's better than 5 - 0?!?...[The whole locker room] 6 - 0"!!!
Head Coach John Fox in the locker room madness following a 13-10 victory over the Bears...
Yeah I believe we wore down over the weeks
Its a product of a lot of things but we aren’t gang-tackling the way we were when we came out.
Has Champ missed tackles??
I know he whiffed on Gronk and I I think he missed 2 last week. But other than that, I don’t recall him “missing” many tackles. And isn’t there a curve for CBs since on most plays their #1 priority is defensing the pass? IC everyone loves Chris Harris, but I think he’s missed as many as Champ this year (granted hes had more opportunities and more successes)
He missed a few big ones against Oakland and Greenbay if I recall
Its not like he sucks at tackling, he just isnt the hard nosed guy who takes you down right away anymore.
I think Champ is our best tackler
with Harris right behind then Von. Other than that we miss way to many tackles all over the field.
Also...
by far Rahim Moore is the worst tackler on the team. The only reason he hasn’t missed more tackles is that he hasn’t been on the field.
Moore a rookie Goodman a veteran....
ends up being a wash since Moore is a Safety and Goodman is a Corner.
Plus tackling is a basic skill. Its not like learning to read plays or developing instincts. I assume the majority of these guys have been tackling since high school, maybe even before that.
Its at a much higher level though
Moore struggled in college with tackling but also made his fair share. Carter was a good tackler in college and has missed some critical tackles lately. They are going against much better athletes and its only fair to realize this. So yeah I think Moore struggled, but his situation is more understandable than Goodmans imo.
Did you just say Goodman is excellent in coverage?
-Champ Bailey's calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd; no one fools Champ Bailey-
-The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese -
I'm curious as to what you'd give Dawkins?
Anywhere between B- and A would be my guess.
-Champ Bailey's calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd; no one fools Champ Bailey-
-The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese -
Somewhere in there
Dawkins is hard to grade because the past two seasons Ive noticed a trend with him. He starts off amazing and about midway through the season he is out of gas. A lot has to do with injuries but the guy is an A in the first few weeks of every season then he has some F games later on.
Great stuff, and for what it's worth, I wouldn't argue much about any of their grades
Chris Harris in particular is really an absolutely fantastic tackling corner compared to any veteran in the league, let alone comparing him to youngsters.
This kid deserves the Wes Welker award.
So we had a bad game. What. There's no crying in football. Dust yourselves off and keep that knee from jerking. The Broncos still control their own destiny. And I have faith in that.
I agree to that.
To us as die hards anyway. We all expected great things from Von and Tebow.
The best of the 2011-2012 season is yet to come.
Here's my only discrepancy, it's regards Goody
Its important to note that he is excellent in coverage.
This should be…. it’s important to note that he… WAS… DECENT… in coverage. Now, he’s below average. It could be because of a nagging injury… who knows. Goody never was excellent in coverage, but he was good enough, and he makes plays on the ball.
"If you went to the Fair with this guy and you played that game where you have to throw the ball through the hole..... he may never get it through the hole, but he's still gonna be walking away with all the stuffed animals!" Prime's commentary on our very own Tim Tebow!!!
"As iron sharpens iron, so will one man sharpen another." The Bible, by way of Tim Tebow.
"If I had to choose between an abundance of football intelligence, or football wisdom, I'd choose wisdom every single time...... John Fox has enough football wisdom to be carried in a dump truck." Me!
What do you think the chances are that Harris gets moved back to safety next year?
The Broncos will get Vaughn and Thompson back next year and assuming we pick up 1 or 2 solid corners this offseason, it could allow for Harris to move back to FS which was his position in college. I don’t think it will be the Broncos plan A next year but if either Moore or Carter don’t develop like we hoped it could be the best option there is.
And now for something completely different
Carter is developing at the SS position. Harris needs to be on the field as much as possible so this could happen.
Dont forget Squid played safety as well. The guy was a pick machine in camp and the coaches like him.
All they need...
… is a little bit o’ tacklin’ fuel!
by H-bizzle on Dec 30, 2011 1:21 PM MST reply actions 1 recs
dawkins
he has been cleaning up the mess the past few years and making practically every big tackle. we are hurting without him in there, especially his tackling/blitzing/leaping. the rookies look confused and overmatched, bruton and mcbath are nowhere. can ty law play safety? call him up!
really , it’s sad we have used 2 2nd-rounders and 2 4th-rounders at the position and still struggle so mightily without the vet. somebody needs to seize a safety position next season and we need to sign a fa safety STAT if dawkins is retiring, as well.
we do have a bunch of young guys coming back next season-squid, vaughn, fannin, some receiver guy we liked,… we should find a few keepers in there. is ben garland coming to camp as well? don’t know his status, but he looks like a mean dude. and i’m thinking ty warren is done. the offseason is going to rock-but first, the postseason!
taste my blintzkrieg!
the 3-man rush is an admission of lunacy, cowardice, and defeat.
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