How to Dodge a Tackle in Football
Dodging a defender is a must for offensive wide receivers and running backs. It gains more yards on offense and demoralizes the opposing defense. If they spend all day missing tackles, and diving into the dust, instead of making clean tackles, they will lose confidence, become more hesitant and your offensive yards will come much easier. It's the best way to soften a secondary, and create hesitation to set up huge plays. So, learn a few tips and start leaving defenders in the dust.
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Instructions
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Run towards your defender, concentrate on his chest and head straight for it.
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Watch his feet and body to determine where his momentum is carrying him. Draw a visualized line across the field that shows which direction he is traveling and use this to set up your juke or dodge.
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Twitch your shoulders and hips away from this imaginary line in the direction you want the defender to think you are going. Convince him that you are going this direction with an additional head fake, or body lean. The point is to get the defender to commit and change his initial momentum. He will try and adjust for a new point of contact (where his body will contact yours), usually a few feet ahead of you in the direction he thinks you are now going.
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Wait a split second, until the defender lowers his head for the tackle, and then stop suddenly, plant your feet and spin or juke and cut across the field in another direction. The defender should fly past you, because he is expecting to contact you at the point you established with your first move .
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Tips & Warnings
A successful fake causes the defender to choose another point of contact a few yards ahead of where he thinks you are now going. Since all defenders need time to line up their hits and must adjust for your speed you can also use a simple speed change to dodge defenders coming at an angle from across the field. This puts more distance between you and the defenders, since they need to readjust their angle. Also, defenders actually try to hit a point ahead of you, when they tackle, because it takes some time to deliver the hit, and you are a moving target.
Don't wait too long to set your juke, as long as you get the defender to commit to a certain direction, you can dodge him. It takes a lot of energy and explosiveness for a defender to readjust and make a strong hit once he is faked out.
