The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-02-04
TACKLE BACK
PLAYS ouTLAWED
DR.. n. L. Williams, Member Of
Rules Committee, Points
Out Changes.
BY O'Louqhlin,

Football in 1905 will be a greatly
changed game from that played on
No-throp field during the years gone
by. The heavy mass play which marked
the work of the gophers, the masses
on and off tackle, the slides off tackle
and the short side plays which gave
the gophers many a notable victory,
have been relegated to the rear, to a
large extent, by the new rulings of
the football governors.
DR.. H. l.. Williams, the Minnesota
member of the new rules committee,
attended the meeting of that body in
New York a week ago and took a
prominent part in it's deliberations. He
returned Tuesday and on next Wednes-
day will again leave for the east to
be present when the code is up for
final passing.
The gopher member Of the rules COM
mittee has studied out the effect of
the new regulations and changes and
talks Of the new football in an inter
esting manner.
"Radical changes were made in the
line formation said he. "On offense
the guards, tackles and center must
= always be on the line Of scrimmage
but can shift to right or left OF center
ag thew may see fit. This spoils the
guards and tackles back plays, virtu
ally forbids them, and prevents th<
guards or tackles from carrying the
ball or getting into the interference
If they drop back the five yards men
toned they are too far away to gel
= the ball in time to do effective linz
plunging or get into interference To-
end runs. Some teams have guards o.
tackles to do the Punting, and thes'
men can, Of course, drop back. The.
can make a fake kick effort or run
This rule cuts out the greater part O.
the so-called mass play.
Playing the Defense.
ssOn defense there cannot be NOR
than six men on the line and the me,
not in the line must be clearly benin
the feet Of the men on the line an
within the ends. The idea Of thi
change is to weaken the defense s
that the center would be stronger an
The ends weaker, to encourage end1run
and more open play.
"At first glance it would appea
that the defense has been decided
Weakened A careful analysis of, tn
possibilities Of defense, however, wi
show this is not so and that the who,
hypothesis is fallacious. In the fir!
F. place, the heavy line men are not
be allowed back in the formation, s
that line plunging will be of lit
avail. In the second place, to co
form to the six-men rule Of the line r
quirement on defense, it is only niece
sary to drop the defensive center
yard and half back from the ba
This form Of defense was popular Of
~~ at some institutions even under the o
rules The strong points were that
enabled the center to quickly suppo
and back up all parts Of the Ii
and even be Of use In stopping 9,
runs. It's weakness lay in the ia
that short, quick jabs were in dang
of coming thru the hole left by t.
center. But with the new rules, !
quiring gain Of ten yards, little
nothing is to be feared from short Ii
jabs. In fact, short, quick jabs In
the line will be so much at q discou
that the line will play more open th
formerly and, being backed up by t
same number Of men as before a
also center who is back from his 20
- ton and free to run, open end runs W
be a still more difficult propositi
than under the old rulings.
The Ten-Yard Rule.
''It Is seen from the report Of
committee that the ten-yard rule is
adopted. The number of downs
make the ten yards is still undecid
- To an impartial student of the gal
it looks very much as If the commit
is in great danger Of making m
serious error. There is some talk
adopting Mr.. Camps plan of requir
a gain Of ten yards in three downs.
the members Of the committee all
themselves to be deceived into think
they have made the game more o.
and end runs and longer gains will
possible, so that they decide to ad
the ten yard gain in three downs, t
will make what appears to me to b
terrible blunder and almost ruin
game.