How-To Manual for a Great Stiff-Arm

ESPN columnist Greg Garber delivers one of the more interesting NFL columns I have read in quite a while. He talks to former Browns' Hall of Fame RB Jim Brown, as well as current Chargers' RB LaDainian Tomlinsion (a surefire first ballot HOF player himself) about a very underrated weapon in the arsenal of an NFL player: the stiff-arm. See, some folks think sports is just organized brutality, and in some ways, it is, but that's not all it is. Just like the game of pool requires the use of geometry in addition to strategy, the stiff-arm in football requires practice, the proper technique, good leverage in addition to a streak that is partly nasty but borne mostly of survival and a desire to score. Chalk this up as one of the many reasons I am very fond of sports in general and football specifically.

"Amid the big plays that produce highlights -- touchdowns, sacks, jacked-up hits and interceptions -- the stiff-arm is a subtle piece of science that is often overlooked. The stiff-arm is a complicated and sometimes unconscious choreography of many moving parts: speed, leverage, balance, strength, cunning and determination. Beyond sheer speed, it is the most basic way for a ball carrier engaged in hand-to-hand combat to create more space for himself and, with it, a few extra yards. At the very bottom, though, the stiff-arm is about survival...sort of like breathing.

Said Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, "The stiff-arm, a lot of times, is my way of hitting guys back, because I get hit all the time. That's my way of dishing out some punishment and being able to hit guys back legally." ...
"It is a very proactive, aggressive type of move." said (Jim) Brown, who was ahead of his time in most respects, took the benign tool of resistance and made it an offensive -- very offensive -- counter move.

"If the person is not up on you, you can actually extend your arm fully and sometimes if he is coming low, you can put your hand, the stiff-arm, on top of his head," Brown explained. "I think that a lot of backs that are really good understand that it is part of your weaponry." "The more he comes, the more he puts himself down into the ground. If he is closer, you try to hit him in the face to make him blink to throw his tackle off. If he is closer than that before you can get it out, it isn't a stiff-arm anymore, it is a forearm.

"It involves the fact that you are strong enough to put it out there and hold the guy off or strong enough to hit him in the face and make him blink and lose his particular balance. You have to try and hit him as hard as you can. If you are going to catch him, you have to use your strength to be able to resist him to keep him away from your body." ...

Being on the receiving end of a stout stiff-arm hurts twice. The first time: For the defender who is used to passing out the pain, it is a blow to his immense pride in full view of a packed stadium and a formidable television audience. The second (and far worse) comes a day later, in the intimate company of his defensive teammates.

"When you get put to the ground like that," Giants defensive end Michael Strahan said, "the first thing that comes to mind is … 'We're going to watch that in the film room where these cats are going to ride me into the dirt.' "

"Everybody knows it's coming," said Colts linebacker Cato June. "The coach, he's sitting and winding while he's talking to somebody else, and while he's winding, everyone else is sitting there like `Oooooo, oooooo' every time it happens."