I get all of that, but I think those are two separate issues. Shitty tackling, in my opinion, has more to do with a lack of practice. Again, it happens now at every level. The fear of concussions has created this, and not that that is a terrible thing. That said, the guy that put the study out there that started all of this, iirc, has been on record as saying it might be blown out of proportion. Some of the changes are good. When I was still coaching Pop Warner, they not only limited the amount of contact we could have, but made us all relearn how to teach tackling. The rugby tackle became the way to go. It was pretty hard for me at first, the thought of putting your head BEHIND the ball carrier was a strange one. That was an arm tackle in my day.douche wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2024 9:32 pmNo. What I mean is that some players can be selfish. They're more about themselves than the team. Highly skilled, but not willing to sacrifice themselves or make a play for the sake of the team. But they're all over social media and they even have their own websites bragging themselves up. Misplaced priorities, in my opinion. Jamal Adams is a perfect example. He's been paid, his focus is no longer football.Michael K. wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2024 5:40 pmSo they purposely look bad on national TV so they can improve their brand? Odd theory.
I was reading an article recently about Jimmy Graham, which made me curious. Turns out he has his own web page. It's all about Jimmy. And if you ask me, there isn't much there. But he's giving it his best. Even his web page is called thejimmygraham.com because let's face it, he's not just any old Jimmy Graham, he's 'The Jimmy Graham'.
It's now taught as "cheek to cheek". Wrap and roll, or better yet, when Pete Carroll and his staff (I swear the guys name was Rocky somethingorother), they called it Hawk and Roll. There are no more, or at least there aren't supposed to be anymore, long ass summer practices of bull in the ring and full speed tackling drills were each player gets a running start and tries to kill the other guy!
Some of that is good, but not practicing something you need to do to be good at your sport? That isn't done at any other level. Imagine limiting the number of reps Griffey Junior could get in batting practice? Telling Michael Jordan he couldn't shoot all that he wanted? No one would question why they weren't as good at their skill set if that happened. But we removed the amount of time these guys get to practice ANYTHING and even further limited the amount of live tackling, then acted shocked they couldn't tackle anymore.