New-York tribune., 1911-12-17
Sol Metzger Gives His Views on
Changes in Rules.
LIKES THE FORWARD PASS
Would Remove Restrictions and
Reduce Distance To Be
Gained by Rushing.
r. SOL NtTZGfE.


VS. raised to alter the playing rules, there
/ has rc.er been 4 period in which 50 much
discussion end dissatisfaction has been
| raised o,e- this splendid game than at pres
ont. after season that has proved perpleN-
/ ins ana quite unsatisfactory in many re-
sreots
/ Most or tic blame has been shoulder"d
/ Upon the rule. but before on" gives ludg-
lnen; il is best to view the matter in the
, dear and calm light Of unbiased p'rsPec-
, tive and sce inst what the trouble IT,
First. 1T me state that it was my 1ood
| fortune this year 20 see all tho big tastc~n
teams in action. excepting tho Navy, and -
/ have witnessed in n critical capacity all
tire big Eastern contests. excepting the on"
between tho Army ana Navy. and since T."
have talked with many Of the leading Elen
/ IN football
The two POINTS * attack most Frequently
I made arc upon the forward pass and the on
side Kick. 80 \ review of tho big games and
! the uses ~ these plays should prove ot IN
terest Princeton did not use tho forward
pass in the big games. but Harvard ana
Yale tried II number Of times with littl"
! success The Crimson grasp"d It's posi-
/ biIities moro thoroughly than Yale, bur tho
man making the pass vac too likely In over
throw the receiver This VAS quite TtrlFn-
! I'm the Yale game. vnen Potter. Of Harvard.
IA ssed over the heads of his ends several
times directly into the arms Of SpalGtng.
! YaIe'e back Haughton devised some clever
PLAYS along this limo. one NJ which put Har-
ward on Princetor's goal line and enabled
! the Crimson. 20 make its sole touchdown in
{ that contest while. in the Vale game, II
plsced REYNOLDS. nho WAS receiving It, IN
/ free field for touchdown. which advantag &c
! was lost by = tumble fault that cannot
be attributed To the play. but tn the inil-
vidual Haughton'S best PLAY. built upon
2 fake forward pass 10 the right side OF the
field from kick formation. I'm which right
end smith swept around the other flank t"r
a run. was the Cleverest strategy Of tho sea %
SON strategy that deserved a touchdown
| had Smith not run directly into Reilly
| Yales last defensive back. who had been
| howled over by the interference. PennsNl-
| vania used the pass with more surety and
for score against Cornell. vherea
SpracklinG Of BroHn. won from the Quak-
| ers by means of II and utilized II To great
advantage whenever his team was in its op-
ponents territory i'm both the Harvard and
Yale games. In the former Brown scored
from midfeld in few plays, all because
Srrackling mixed this play with a strong
running attack. while against Yale, when
Brown had its only chance in the latter's
territory. the forward pass enabled this
eleven to reach Yale's danger zone, where
Sprackling tried drop kick on the first
down.
Judging from the above results, the Tor
ward pass is likely to he success when II
! is concealed until the pass is actually
made. as the opposing secondary defence
thinks running attack is 10 be met
As to the onside kick. Pennsylvania usec
it most effectively against Cornell and YAH
most effectively I'm its Brown game wher
the Blue eleven was at it's best. Princeton
also worked Il we'll against Harvard. Cap
tain Howe succeeded in executing a din
cult and most successful running onsid'
kick against Brown. but was unable 10 d'
so in either the Princeton or the Harvar(
game probably because Of the slippery turf
This play is effective as Yale used IT in th'
Brown game Howe started off on run
around his right end from kick formation
and. after he had drawn the opposing Dack'
over, suddenly stopped to kick the pal
across to the open side OF the field. The
other effective method. as Pennsylvania
exhibited IL against Cornell for Its las
touchdown on Thanksgiving Day. Is to plo
II on the lines OF the Old quarterback KICK
cannot agree with Mr.. Camp, who calls
the success or failure Of this play matter
Of luck, and If the twenty-yard restriction
were removed numerous examples can be
shown where the kick has been plotted ano
executed with such accuracy as to remove
II from the grasp of Dame Fortune. Thal
the success of an eleven in recovering low
punts sent directly down the field without
any attempt to conceal the play. is mat
ter Of luck. one will readily grant but wheI
the play Is properly conceived and executed
as Yale did in the Brown game and as
PENNSYLVANIA did in the Cornell game, one
cannot call It matter of luck.
As TO the other points at issue in the
code. such as the kickoff. classifying the
unfortunate freaks, mistakes ana douotS
that now exist. II is sufficient to say thai
the rules should be properly worded ana
properly edited by the committee
As 10 the game itself there is only one OF
two WAYS to solve the problem Return Ia
some variation of the style Of game played
twenty years ago or play practically the
stvle used this fall, either by increasing the
number Of downs or by decreasing the yard
ago 10 be gained when team has posses
sion Of the ball in its own territory ana
when within its opponents 25-yard Inc.
believe the latter plan will be adopted. WITT
some Of the restrictions removed from the
forward pass and may be the onside hcn
out and the old quarterback Kick Supsu-
tuted. In fact, the game taken as PLAYED
i'm 1905. without the onside kick. assistance
10 the runner and less distance to D'
GAINED or more downs to do IT In.
Personally. | should like TO see the game
retain the forward pass and got the quar-
torback kick. the former without restric-
tions such as 1t must bc passed from be
hind the line of scrimmage and IT must not
go over twenty yards beyond the line OF
scrimmaee The distance 20 he gained
should he five wards II. three downs. when a
team has the ball in its own territory. pet
idea Of mine and within its opponents 20
ward line Elsewhere it should be ten yards
In three downs All ether points should re-
mair the same only that they be clarified.
have no strong opinions on the onside
kick II the quarterback kick Is returned 10
the rules And ! ocleye that with PROB
lem Of this sort presented an attacking
team has no excuse il it cannot score.
That the open style game will be retained
along these lines seems reasonable and Tor
perfectly obvious reasons. The big UNI
versities do not have fun sway in questions
Of this kind any longer and when IT Is re-
membered that the smaller colleges are In
a majority upon this committee and that
the smaller colleges have been delivering
the goods since the adoption of the modern
game it is only natura! 10 suppose they VII.
stick to them.
ON the other hand. the big universities