The national forum., 1910-11-05
RULES ENCOURAGE
FORWARD PASS
Toss Will Be Feature Of Foot.
ball Games This Year.
TAKES PLACE or MASS PLAY.
Restrictions on Push and Pull and In
reference Make lts Development
Neoessary--coaci1es See Possibilities
of This Play Moro Than Ever.

or This Play Moro Than Ever.
With line rushes virtually barred
from football games as result of
penalties placed upon the push and
pull plays and with end runs and off
tackle plays waited for by defense
which has been in no degree weak
ened, forward passes promise to be a
more important feature of football
this season than ever before. The for
ward toss is one of the few depart
ments Of the offensive game which have
grown In usefulness through revisions
In the rules. Coaches are more and
more seeing the possibilities this year
than before, and critics declare that by
the middle of the season the toss will
be MS important part Of the sport as
the mass play under the old regime.
Plays around the end and OFF tackle
will vary the forward passes, and
plays inside the tackles seldom will be
seen in the later games of the season,
"The abolition Of the push and pull has
killed the mass play as nothing else
could" Is the declaration of a promi-
nent western player There Is no
chance for a man to gain more than
yard or so through the line without
interference save when the combina-
ton Is used as trick play, when it
may result III good gains. AS is the
case with all tricks, the value Of the
line play this year lies not In the real
strength Of the play, but rather in the
infrequency with which it Is attempted
and the surprise occasioned.
New Code Favors Pass.
Two parts Of the revised code favor
the use of the forward pass. The first
Of these is the clause permitting the
ball to be thrown directly over the line
of scrimmage instead Of five yards to
the side of the snapper back. The Sec
ond Is that which prohibits interfer-
ence on the part of the defense with
men eligible to receive the ball, ex.
cept that interference which may be
incidental to bona fide attempt to Sc
cure the oval. Both these revisions
will prove Of great assistance to the
offense and make the forward pass one
Of the safest and surest ground gain
ers which is in the power of coaches to
use.
In permitting the ball to be passed
directly over the line of scrimmage the
rules allow greater leeway than ever
before for trick plays, with the for
ward pass as the handspring The va
riety which can be used in this way is
almost unlimited. whereas under the
old system of forcing the ball to be
thrown to the side the forward pass
was handicapped.
The Restrictions on tho Toss.
There Is restriction Of the forward
pass, however, which requires that the
man making 1t be at least five yards
behind the line Of scrimmage. At first
glance this would appear to be seri-
Gus handicap, for 1t might be supposed
the back field would be obliged to stand
farther back when such a play was
contemplated than under ordinary cir
cumstances and in so doing would
show its hand to the opposing eleven,
Closer study of the play, however, will
show this restriction has little effect,
for the man who is to make the pass
may stand in his regular position un-
til he receives the ball and then drop
back the required five yards. In this
way he not only covers his own inten'
tions regarding the forward pass, but
also gives his teammates time to get
into position to receive the throw.
Men eligible to receive the forward
pass are more clearly defined this
year. The rule book says that all
men standing more than yard back
Of the line of scrimmage and those on
the ends Of the line of scrimmage are
eligible. Thus the back field, the quar-
terback and the ends are all possibill-
ties, and as one Of these must make
the pass there are five men who may
receive the ball Care must be taken
that the ends either are on the line Of
scrimmage or more than yard back.
II they are not on the line Of scrlm-
mage or more than yard back Of 1t
they are eligible for the pass neither
as backs nor as ends.
Body Check Prohibited.
In the restriction prohibiting the
body check by defensive players the
side making the forward pass has
more chance to complete the play.
Before the body check was introduced
by Princeton and Pennsylvania there
We're more completed passes despite
the fact that the toss was crude and
not nearly so well planned as was the
case last year when more than half
the attempts resulted in penalties. This
was the direct result Of the permission
of the body check, at once the greatest
defensive measure and the most dan
gerous play brought out by coaches in
the last ten years.