It can be daunting.
You. A ball carrier. Nothing but a wide open Canadian football field surrounding you.
But a few common tactics can take the fear out of open field tackling.
You’re Never Truly Alone
This is true in life as it is in defensive football.
When you’re out in the open field, it can feel like you’re a million kilometres away from everything. The truth is, help is all around you.
Whether it’s in the form of pursuing teammates or the reliable sideline, there is always help nearby.
Keep this in mind when an open field tackle presents itself.
Close Ground
I’ve heard football described as a game of “time and space”.
If this is true, you want to take both of these things away from the ball carrier out in the open field.
You do this by closing ground quickly.
As you close ground, you will likely have a leverage you want to maintain. This leverage will often be based on the situation, your scheme, and your location on the field.
Come to Balance
It’s difficult to make a tackle when you’re out of control.
Coming to balance means sinking your hips and shortening your steps as you prepare to make the tackle.
The biggest coaching point here is that you continue to close ground as you come to balance. You don’t want to stop in your tracks and give the ball carrier their time and space back.
Maintain Leverage
You don’t want to give the ball carrier a “two-way go”. Hopefully you’ve maintained your leverage as you closed ground and came to balance. You want to continue to maintain this leverage as you finish the tackle.
Having a leverage on the ball carrier means they only have one option when it comes to making their escape. Ideally that option forces them towards the sideline or towards your pursuing teammates.
Final Thoughts
Tackling the open field can be challenging in Canadian football. And it doesn’t always play out in the textbook way.
But if you close ground, come to balance the right way, and maintain your leverage, you have a better shot at taking down the ball carrier.
All the best,
Jon Svec
Defensive Coordinator
St. Francis Xavier University
X-Men Football
IG: @jonsvecx
Twitter: @jonsvecx
Jon Svec is the author of the e-book Canadian Football Chalk Talk: Defensive Basics.