Defensive Tackle Playing a Down Block

Coach october,

I think the play of the tackle would be dependant on your defensive scheme. Is he a penetrator or a reader? How do you want your linebackers to react to the "G" action? They have to fit into the scheme as well and it would determine if you want the tackle to fight the pressure and try to squeeze the hole through the block of the OT or to cross face him. If you're cross facing him, the Mike has to stay at home to protect against a cut back, if you're squeezing the hole with him, the Mike can flow over the top (assuming a 4-3).

we teach our guys to take what you are given. this is exactly how we teach it. as the OT blocks down he will be one of two places: your face or your butt. so our DT rules are face = cross his face, butt = backdoor. once we disengage we will heel the LOS. we practice these daily.

use a quick punch to disengage and use the swim techn. when crossing the face and reduce the hip and shoulder and rip for the back door.

Our 3 tech tackle is a B gap player, and we teach that his initial aiming point on the snap is the outside "V" of the guard. He is taught to shoot his hands to the chest and outside shoulder and use a push-pull technique while getting his hips rotated into the gap. In the situation where the guard is going to pull, he will see the guard take that bucket step at the snap toward the tackle. He is also taught top expect the down block by the tackle when he sees that action. Ideally, we want him to beat the down block into the backfield and get the back or force him wide, i.e., blow through the gap. By beating the down block I mean get through the line as fast as possible so that the tackle can't block you. Against a quick enough tackle, a cross face move will usually not work because the tackle is back too far on the body. As the tackle hits, our 3 tech wants to have body position on the line so that his hips are ahead of the block. This way, he can grab the tackle's upfield shoulder with his near hand and pull him off while wheeling to the back or following the guard down the line of scrimmage.

If the tackle is not penetrating, (we will change this up if they run a lot of traps to our penetrating tackle, our cross face technique involves a punch to the tackle's downfield armpit. This is intended to give our player leverage and the ability to disengage from the block. Depending on the tackle's angle of attack, we can throw him off from there or rip under the arm using same foot, same arm technique to get past the tackle.