8/10/2023 0 Comments Nfl flying wedge football![]() Stagg titles this “Running mass wedge through the center.” Note that “center” here refers not only to the center of the field, but to the player. The diagrams which follow are all from it. ![]() It includes diagrams and descriptions for a huge variety of plays. This was the wedge: a mass of players pushing forward against the defense.Ī Scientific and Practical Treatise on American Football for Schools and Colleges is a marvelous book by the great Amos Alonzo Stagg written in 1893, when he was making the University of Chicago into a football powerhouse. The response to this new advantage to the defense was for the attackers to mass around the ball carrier and prevent any defenders from reaching him. A tackle below the waist was included in this prohibition. This was changed in the late 1880s to allow tackling above the knee. There was a rule against tripping the ball carrier, and this included tripping with the hands and arms. Formerly the tackle had to be from the waist up. The second change was a loosening of restrictions on the legal tackle. The American version abandoned this restriction for interesting reasons I might write about some time, resulting in the obvious tactic of having blockers run ahead of the ball carrier. Originally it was the Rugby rule, that any players ahead of the ball were offside, and could not participate in game play until they were onside. ![]() In modern American football the offsides rule is reduced to requiring that players on offense not cross the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped. The first was the de facto abandonment of the traditional offsides rule. This arose in response to two developments. But few actually know what it was.įirst we need to introduce the concept of a mass play. Many football fans are aware that there was a play called the ‘flying wedge.’ After all, this is a totally cool name for a play. Specifically, the flying wedge, the greatest play in football history. In honor of the new NFL season I am taking a break from writing about obscure points of baseball history and instead writing about an obscure point of football history.
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