Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-01-02
Not See It.

There Is an inside" football just as well as ",nside" baseball. The great difference is that there Is so much more inside football that not only does the average spectator miss it. but the players and coaches them selves see little of it. At present It seems that the possibilities of "in- side" football are unlimited.
 Every player on team has chances to pull off inside work, but the posi- 1 tion which most needs the ability to grasp a situation and grapple with it in new way is that of quarter backs Around the little men who call the signals for the big elevens open a thousand possibilities for inside play. and many are the quarter backs who do not take advantage of their oppor- tunities That is why the "heady" quarter backs, that Is, those who can run team on the field as well as the coach on the side line could direct 1t, may be counted on the fingers of one hand.
 The quarter back must keep in mind the number of downs. the dis tance to be gained, the position on the field, the length of time that remains to be played. the individual and col lective strength of his own men and the individual and collective strength and weakness of his opponents, the peculiarities of the officials, and the number and kind of plays at his dis | posal. All of these things must be considered in single instant and de- cision given sometimes in a fraction 1 of second, frequently while rising from the ground or struggling to be disengaged from the mass. and fre- quently when suffering from painful injuries. And yet they say it re- quires no brains to play football.
 football player seldom gets cred 1t for inside" work for the reason that the grandstand does not recog nize 1t.
 l Just few instances: Under the new rules 1t is sometimes more ad. visabie for member of team on the defense to drop a forward -.5s which he has caught than to hold it. This is on the occasion of a forward pass on a third down. A defensive halfback has a chance to catch the bal, but sees that he you'd be down- cd without carrying the ball back to tho line where 1t started. In this case. the right play is to touch the ball and let 1t drop to the ground so that the ball will then be brought back to the place where 1t started and given to his side. To the grand stand this play properly executed would be hissed by the minimizing
 Again. quarter back in the safety position is standing almost on his own>goal lfnee The bali -fs kfcked to him. He can't make in easy catch. but the heady man in this case will "usuailyr allow tho. bail-to~dy orAbounco across tho goal line. The defending side is then allowed to take the ball out to the twenty-dve-yard iiae and put 1t in play. If he elects to catch 1t he will probably be dewaed before reaching that line. Yet quarterbacks have been called dubs and poor catches by the srandstand for this play. Tho same procedure should bs used where . high kick-o6 ts kicked % as to pass or bounce over the goal line immediately. especially whore tho ends coming down under tho kick arc fast
 Tho heady backnelder of these days runs outside and continues parallel to tho goal line for 8 few paces, in order to tempt some unwary man on the other team to tackle him and se- cure a penalty against the tackler
 A thousand possibilities are open to the student of the game for inside work. Running with the ball. catch. ing. passing. kicking-each has dog en little tricks which spell defeat or victory if taken advantage of or neg l lected at the psychological moment.