Revitalizing Nfl American Football Preparation Drills
Tackling Fundamentals and Safety
Learning how to perform a proper tackle is fundamental to the game of football. If executed poorly not only will you not succeed in stopping the offensive team, but you could possibly injure yourself in the process. Here are three important steps to practice:
First, plant yourself in front of your opponent. An excellent technique is to plant your foot in the middle of your opponents. Also, and in coordination with your feet throw your arms back preparing to grab.
Second, thrust your other foot again squarely in front of your opponent and with all the momentum that you have brought to the tackle grab your opponent. At this point you are well planted in front and your head should be in direct contact. To protect yourself never, ever try to tackle with the crown of your head, but instead keep your head back, and your head square. You need to literally imagine that the football is a big hamburger and you want to bite it and not slam your forehead against it.
Third, throw your hips up and hard as you drive the offensive player backwards. Setting yourself up for this last step will ultimately prove the success in the tackle.
A great Handoff Drill
Running backs should constantly practice the hand off. This drill requires more than one player; it starts off with two lines, line A and line B, the front of each line facing each other a couple of yards apart. The player from line A leaves the line with the football running towards line B. At the same time that the first player leaves player B leaves his line towards player A, as they pass each other in the middle player A hands off the football to player B. At this moment another player leaves line A and accepts a handoff from player B. The motion should be constantly moving from one line to another in this drill, almost like a juggling pattern. Practice this drill every day to ensure that your running backs are effective on their hand offs.
Running with the Ball: The Gauntlet Drill
There is nothing more important for offense to learn great ball security. Quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers should work on this skill constantly. That is why the gauntlet drill was created, to test and practice effective ball security. The drill starts with a player protecting the ball as best as he can while running through several opponents. Each of the defenders can line up in any way making the ball carrier run any sort of patterns with the ball, the point is to pose a challenge to hold onto the ball. To be effective with this drill have the ball carrier run the drill holding the ball in several different positions.
Traditional Driving Block
When talking about the fundamentals of a great offense or defense, you have to know what a good driving and blocking techniques are. Hence the name for the most common drive: the drive block. This drive block means that you are going to push the opponent in the direction that they are aligned. If the Defensive lineman is aligned slightly to the right of the offensive linemen then the drive block with pus the defender to the right. Execute the drive by bolting off the line with your play side foot; again if the play is happening on the left side then you will use your left foot. Move quickly and in a speed bursting motion, make solid contact with your opponent to drive them off in the direction that you want.
Learning how to perform a proper tackle is fundamental to the game of football. If executed poorly not only will you not succeed in stopping the offensive team, but you could possibly injure yourself in the process. Here are three important steps to practice:
First, plant yourself in front of your opponent. An excellent technique is to plant your foot in the middle of your opponents. Also, and in coordination with your feet throw your arms back preparing to grab.
Second, thrust your other foot again squarely in front of your opponent and with all the momentum that you have brought to the tackle grab your opponent. At this point you are well planted in front and your head should be in direct contact. To protect yourself never, ever try to tackle with the crown of your head, but instead keep your head back, and your head square. You need to literally imagine that the football is a big hamburger and you want to bite it and not slam your forehead against it.
Third, throw your hips up and hard as you drive the offensive player backwards. Setting yourself up for this last step will ultimately prove the success in the tackle.
A great Handoff Drill
Running backs should constantly practice the hand off. This drill requires more than one player; it starts off with two lines, line A and line B, the front of each line facing each other a couple of yards apart. The player from line A leaves the line with the football running towards line B. At the same time that the first player leaves player B leaves his line towards player A, as they pass each other in the middle player A hands off the football to player B. At this moment another player leaves line A and accepts a handoff from player B. The motion should be constantly moving from one line to another in this drill, almost like a juggling pattern. Practice this drill every day to ensure that your running backs are effective on their hand offs.
Running with the Ball: The Gauntlet Drill
There is nothing more important for offense to learn great ball security. Quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers should work on this skill constantly. That is why the gauntlet drill was created, to test and practice effective ball security. The drill starts with a player protecting the ball as best as he can while running through several opponents. Each of the defenders can line up in any way making the ball carrier run any sort of patterns with the ball, the point is to pose a challenge to hold onto the ball. To be effective with this drill have the ball carrier run the drill holding the ball in several different positions.
Traditional Driving Block
When talking about the fundamentals of a great offense or defense, you have to know what a good driving and blocking techniques are. Hence the name for the most common drive: the drive block. This drive block means that you are going to push the opponent in the direction that they are aligned. If the Defensive lineman is aligned slightly to the right of the offensive linemen then the drive block with pus the defender to the right. Execute the drive by bolting off the line with your play side foot; again if the play is happening on the left side then you will use your left foot. Move quickly and in a speed bursting motion, make solid contact with your opponent to drive them off in the direction that you want.
