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Tackling an area of the game

Email|Link|Comments (3) Posted by Mike Reiss, Globe Staff August 6, 2008 11:48 AM

Dallas Morning News football writer Rick Gosselin pens an informative piece on the tackle statistic in the NFL, and why fans should look at it with a careful eye.

In the piece, Gosselin looks at how different teams chart tackles.

From a Patriots perspective, Gosselin notes that the team had a total of 968 total tackles last season. Only seven teams had fewer.

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3 comments so far...

Mike,
Thanks for the link, good read. I've always thought some of the tackle #'s out there were outrageous. The NFL should institue a uniform way of tracking tackle totals, players make probowls due to those outlanding tackle totals.

Posted by Nikos August 6, 08 01:26 PM

"The Indy defense was on the field for 980 snaps last season. But there were no tackles on 199 of those plays because they were either incomplete passes, interceptions or offensive touchdowns.

That left 781 defensive snaps that involved a tackle – and the Colts' coaching staff awarded a league-high 1,416 tackles. That's an average of 1.81 tackles per play. The Indianapolis staff awarded 891 "solo" tackles in those 781 plays. Figure that one out. "

Sounds like the Dolts are the biggest cheaters of all!!!

Posted by J.P. August 6, 08 02:33 PM

J.P.,

When I read that it's exactly what I thought. And nothing about that organization surprises me - except they'll be so smug about it.

Great article (as usual) by Gosselin. I hadn't realized how unorganized the tracking of stats is - makes one wonder about everything else on the stats sheets.

Posted by Lance August 6, 08 09:31 PM

DO NOT HIT THE SUBMIT BUTTON MORE THAN ONCE!

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Mike Reiss, Christopher L. Gasper and the rest of the Globe team provide regular updates –and a behind-the-scenes look– on the daily happenings of the Patriots.

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