how to tackle in American football

I am pissed at how many high level football players do not know how to tackle. You see defenders attempting to tackle by jumping on the shoulders or grabbing for the torso. It's like they want a piggy back ride or think they are playing two-hand touch. It's like the desiring tackler is trying to take hold at the widest and most flexible part of the ball carrier's body. Not only is the upper body of a football player the most padded, but he has two limbs flailing around, one of which if he can put it between you and him, he will and if he's Jim Brown, he will punch you while holding the ball in the other hand.

How do you take down a tank? Blow the treads. How do cowboys take down a calf? Sure the rope catches the horns, but that doesn't mean the little fellow is going to drop. The cowpokes pull the feet out. When police chase a bad guy they try to take the tires out, right?

The key to tackling is to take the lower body out. Hit at waist high. Don't even touch or think about the upper body, unless you think you can just overwhelm the guy. Immobilize the other guy's wheels. When the defender spreads his arms out to the side and aims his face mask at the waist of the opponent and then when he is close enough, brings his arms around the ball carrier, he is 90% sure of making a tackle. I would advise defenders to always concentrate on the legs. Take them out and the ball carrier will naturally fall. I would ask the tackler to even ignore the head and shoulders of an offensive player. They can only distract and many times deceive you from properly stopping the ball carrier. I would insist on maintaining a low center of gravity and tackle up rather than down. Every guy who has played football knows you tackle through the ball carrier, and I would say not only tackle through the other guy, but also up and then into the ground. But 90% of the time the defender does not have the opportunity to chose his angles, so simply understanding that he must key the stop on the waist and if not drag the ball carrier down, run through him.