Lateral Thinking: Can NFL Learn From Rugby?

First off, I should make it clear that I’m not pretending to be an NFL expert. I’m a thirty-something Scotsman who was first introduced to the NFL as a young kid in the mid 1980’s when my father returned from a conference in Miami with some Dolphins-themed souvenirs. About that time Channel 4 started broadcasting an ‘American Football’ show on Sunday nights, hosted by former Atlanta Falcons kicker Mick Luckhurst. I was a Dolphins fan, although my bedroom walls were adorned with posters of Walter Payton, Lawrence Taylor, Joe Montana, Richard Dent and a shot of the Fridge going over the line during Superbowl XX – as well as those of Dan Marino and Mark Duper. I followed events in the NFL ever since.

One thing I always loved about the game was the depth and complexity of the tactical options in the playbooks. I got to know my screen pass from my draw play and the relative merits of the ‘I’ formation but, as a Scot, one thing that always puzzled me is this: A running back carrying the ball with two or three team-mates around him. He may side-step one with sleight-of-foot. A second may fall to a timely block… but in the end the running back would go down under the weight of multiple defenders while his team-mates looked on from their own individual duels across the field.

The quick-learning young Scot would surmise that offensive players were trained to believe the first priority was to protect the ball at all costs. If you take a loss, you take a loss… Just hold on to the ball for dear life. Meanwhile the defensive players were built with the understanding that their opponents would all hold that protective brief dear and so, when the ball carrier is confirmed, as many defenders as possible should converge on him to ensure he goes down hard and fast.

Compare this to the closest ‘Old World’ relative, Rugby. Its two codes of Union and League differ in style and the League version is probably a closer relative. For those not familiar with the rules of Rugby League here’s a very brief outline.

Two teams of 13 players on the 100 metre long field. After kick-off the receiving team must try to carry the ball over the opposing try (goal) line. To achieve this they are given a set of six tackles. The ball carrier tries to make positive yardage. Once he is tackled and his knee touched the ground, he is released by the defender and he must roll the ball back to a team-mate to take up the next attack. This is counted as tackle number one. The team can recycle possession like this up to six times. The 6th tackle is the equivalent of 4th down. At this point the attacking team know that if they are tackled before scoring, the ball will be turned over at the point of downing. Often in such cases they will kick the ball downfield, much like opting to punt on 4th when out of field goal range.

Rugby League is far more fluid than American Football, but far less fluid than Rugby Union. What it does have in common with Union though, is the point of this article: The lateral pass.

A Rugby defensive side are drilled to defend more-or-less man to man. Even when the ball carrier makes a move, in most cases a maximum of two players will move to take him down. The rest will cover the other offensive players, who string out in a diagonal line formation to provide a lateral pass option. Compare that to the American Football defensive plays where Linebackers, Corners and Safety will have their instructions on who or what to cover, but once the draw play is spotted, they are all in with the rest to see who can get the first hit in.

What if that running back was a rugby centre that waited till the last second and then spun the ball behind right or left to a tight end, drawing in the tackles and creating a big hole for his buddy to make positive yardage though? Currently this would be seen as something of a high risk trick play, but why should it be? It’s in the rules and could be very effective if executed properly.

 Of course, like any new play or formation that proves successful, it would soon be copied and countered. Look at the Dolphins Wildcat from season ’08. However, training an American Football Defence to factor in the possibility of multiple lateral passes within every offensive play would completely re-write the rules they learn by, wouldn’t it? Surely that’s the advantage for any team who could pull it off offensively… It’d be quite a while before teams were comfortable with defending it.

So… A Bubble Screen with lateral passes or Wildcat with multiple hand-offs. What say the real NFL experts out there?