A kids' football team called the Wagstaff Dogs, which includes T.D., Helen, Alice, Ronald, and Truman, is playing against another team but losing. They try to take the ball from the other team, but T.D. and Truman bump into each other, and Alice knocks the rest over like dominoes. Sure enough, they lose, by 73 points no less.
Helen, Alice, T.D., and Truman (with Martha and Skits accompanying them) complain about their bad score at the corner store, and Ronald mocks them even though he was also on the team. Carolina approaches and says that it's not the others' fault they're bad players; they just need a coach. The others run after Carolina and she catches the ball, but when Tiffany and another girl show up, Carolina drops the ball and pretends it's gross. Helen tries to ask Carolina how she knows so much about football, but Carolina cuts her off and pretends that Helen was asking about foot baths. When the other girls leave, Carolina promises to show something to her friends, but only if they don't talk to her about football in public again.
At Carolina's house, she reveals to her friends that she watches football and knows how to play it, but she keeps it a secret since when she reached a certain age, she decided it was unladylike. Her friends ask her to coach them, and at first she refuses, but then she changes her mind. However, she decides it has to be in her backyard and they can't tell anyone.
She starts coaching them and makes T.D. the wide receiver and Ronald the quarterback (after Helen and Alice prove to be incompetent throwers). Then, she moves on to coaching the entire team and has them learn from books. She teaches them over a few days, and while there are a few spills, the kids do improve their game.
On the day of the game, Tiffany laughs at Carolina after overhearing Ronald calling her "Coach". Then, when the game starts, Carolina is nowhere to be seen. While Martha searches for her, the Wagstaff Dogs try to play, but they still do badly. By half-time, they're losing, though at least not by so much. Martha finds Carolina and leads the Wagstaff Dogs to her, talking to Tiffany and the other girl at the corner store.
The Wagstaff Dogs want Carolina at the field, but she doesn't want to be seen being a coach. She eventually decides to come to the field, and hides under the audience. She tells the instructions to Martha, who whispers them to the team, and the team plays, but they're still not doing well. Carolina tells them that even if they lose, they're winners in her book, and they keep playing. Eventually, T.D. scores a touchdown making the score even, so the victory or loss of the team now depends on Truman. Thankfully, they end up winning, and Tiffany doesn't mind Carolina being a coach.
This episode provides examples of
- Collective Groan: The Wagstaff Dogs groan all at once when it's revealed that they lost.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- When Carolina tells T.D. to pass the books around, he throws them, thinking she meant the football definition of "pass".
- Then, when she tells her teammates to tackle their lessons, they all tackle her like in football.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Carolina claims she "repeats" twice after rinsing her hair out.
- Embarrassing Hobby: Carolina is embarrassed about watching football and knowing how to play it, since she feels it hurts her reputation as a proper lady.
- Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: This episode reveals that Carolina watches football and knows how to play it.
- Hypocritical Humour: Ronald berates Alice and her friends for being bad football players, even though he was on the same team as them.
- Imagine Spot: When Carolina's friends beg her to coach them, she briefly imagines being their coach.
- Jerk Jock: Downplayed for Carolina, who's revealed to watch football but doesn't dress or act like a jock in general, and who's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Last-Name Basis: When narrating the game, Danny calls Ronald "Boxwood" and T.D. "Kennelly".
- Lovable Jock: Downplayed for Carolina — she watches, and knows how to play, football, but she doesn't generally have a jock image, and she's a bit ill-mannered and arrogant but she's nice deep down.
- My Grandma Can Do Better Than You: Ronald insults Alice in her friends by saying that his (and Alice's) grandma can play football better than them (despite him being on their team).
- Overly Narrow Superlative: The Wagstaff Dogs call Carolina their best coach, but she points out that that's not really a compliment as she's the only one they've ever had.
- Pun: When Carolina tells T.D. to "go deep", he jokingly speaks in a deep voice.
- Pun-Based Title: The word "tackles" is a pun on tackling, which is both a move in American football and slang for "to deal with or complete".
- Rousing Speech: Carolina delivers an inspirational speech to the Wagstaff Dogs when they seem to be losing the match.
- Silent Whisper: Martha isn't heard when she whispers to Ronald.
- Slapstick:
- At the beginning, Alice knocks over a bunch of her teammates like dominoes, while T.D. and Truman bump into each other and fall down.
- Due to a misunderstanding of the word "tackle", Carolina is bowled over by the football team.
- Jorge falls through his chair due to Carolina having taken the bottom of it.
- Speak in Unison: When Carolina says that the Wagstaff will either "go big or go home", so what will it be, they reply, "Go big!" in unison.
- Unexpected Kindness: Not only did Tiffany not laugh at Carolina for being a coach, she complimented her outfit.
- Unmanly Secret: Gender-inverted — Carolina keeps her enjoyment of football a secret because she thinks it's unladylike.
