Broken Tackles and the NFC South

[TerriblePizza]

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/id/10338/broken-tackles-in-the-nfc-south

This really shouldn’t come as any surprise, but two members of the Tampa Bay secondary were the worst tacklers in the NFL last year.

The folks at Football Outsiders sat down and reviewed every game from last season.

They looked for broken tackles, which they defined as “one of two events: Either the ball carrier escapes from the grasp of the defender, or the defender is in good position for a tackle but the ball carrier jukes him out of his shoes. If the ball carrier sped by a slow defender who dived and missed, that didn't count as a broken tackle.’’

Under that definition Tampa Bay safety Sabby Piscitelli led the league in broken tackles. Teammate Ronde Barber finished second. By the way, Tampa Bay safety Tanard Jackson wasn’t far behind. Atlanta safety Erik Coleman and former Carolina safety Chris Harris also were pretty high on the list.

I’m not allowed to share the entire breakdown, but, if you have an Insider account, you can get the whole rundown on broken tackles here.

Also, and this one’s free for all, you can get a team-by-team breakdown on broken tackles here. The Football Outsiders totaled up how many broken tackles each defense had and how many each offense forced.

The Tampa Bay defense finished second in the league with 94 broken tackles. On the positive side, the Carolina offense (I’m guessing DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart had a lot to do with this) led the league by forcing 117 broken tackles.

Hrmmm. Maybe it was for the better that Harris left? But, most of those broken tackles probably came from when he tried to light the guy up and didn't quiet connect.

On the other side of the ball, I am not surprised at all that we led the league in breaking tackles. Both Stewart and Williams seemed to break multiple tackles a game.

[TerriblePizza]

Merge mine with the other, or delete this thread. We posted at almost the same time.

[capfolly]

lets keep yours. I messed up the title on mine.

[Floppin]

former Carolina safety Chris Harris also were pretty high on the list.

Harris never has been a fan of wrapping up. He relies on the big hit, which is pretty when it works, but not sound tackling technique.

[Seamonk]

He used to secure the tackle first and pull the ball out when help arrived.

[scpanther22]

Also Harris shoulder injury.

[rayzor]

He used to secure the tackle first and pull the ball out when help arrived.

thats also when he was a FF machine.

he would wrap them up and take them down and while they were bracing for impact he would strip the ball. he said that was the way he learned it in chicago and what he was doing that brought him all that success initially.

he didn't do that after his first year here. he mostly relied on the big hit.

personally i would rather he have kept wrapping them up and forcing fumbles in the process. with a faster defense help was going to be arriving quicker.

i remember that was a huge problem for the defense as a whole in training camp and preseason. they weren't wrapping up and making tackles. most of them grew out of that for the most part. harris apparently wasn't in that group that improved it.

[rmoneyg35]

I couldn't believe Ronde Barber is on there but he is getting old. Chris Harris always missed tackles trying to make the big hit. I love seeing him make the big hit but how many big plays have we gave up because of his missed tackles? Could anyone point out games that Chris Harris gave up big plays or Tds? I would just like to see some of the tackles he missed. With Harris gone our D will atleast improve in one aspect.