How to Pursue a Tackle in Football

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson, for Expert Village. What we want to talk about now is when our defensive guy is in pursuit of a tackle he has to come up and control this offensive lineman as much as possible. Remember, the offense knows where the play is going. The defense doesn't know all the time. So, the defender has to come up, fire up and get his hands extended. Let's go that far (video demo). He has his hands extended. Now, he has to keep his feet wide. You never want the defensive guys bring their feet together. If the offensive guy gets a good push and he brings his feet together he's going to trip over himself and he's going to push him out of the play. He has to take a step and then another step. I'll show you (video demo). He has to keep his feet wide. Every time he takes a step he has to keep his feet wide. He's going to try to walk himself around in pursuit of this running back coming across. Now, this offensive guy is also going to be trying to keep him out of the play. Once he sheds the tackle and gets wide then he can start his pursuit of the running back. The main thing is to keep your feet wide enough that you don't step on your own feet or trip over yourself while trying to get to the outside of that play."