The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-11-21
FORMER PENN STAR BELITTLES
 QUARTERBACKS
Work Cut and Dried for Them Says Writer, Now
 Pro Player

va ican newspapers, especially in the east, and relative to the great per- formance of Charley O'Rourke of Boston College against Georgetown, there is the following and most in- teresting yarn by Frank Murray, Pennsylvania captain of two years ago, who says: "Quarterbacks should pay to get into football stadium"
 "It is my candid opinion that the quarterback-the little Napoleon of the gridiron- ought to pay to get into the stadium" So writes Fran ny Murray, noted quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles professional team and former star of the Penn sylvania varsity, in the December issue of Esquire Magazine. Accord ing to Murray, the theory that the quarterback has to do all the think ing for the team, in addition to carrying out his regular assignments of passing, running and blocking, is something of the bunk. Actually, his work is cut and dried for him and it's too bad. He's laced so tightly into the strait jacket of tradition that he can hardly call his soul his own, let alone his head. says Esquire.
 He is oach-dominated in all his sleeping and waking hours; he is yssem-dominated throughout the game; he is dominated by weather and the time clock; by the score, position On the field, the down and yardage to go; and he is dominated by that great character building axiom: Always shoot a play at an opponent who's hurS." The quarter backs problem is not essentially thinking, but remembering.
 Let's look with Esquire at the sawdust in that familiar statement that the quarterback must know half hundred plays and a thou sand individual assignments, then be able to reach down into the bag and bring up the right combi- nation on every play. A football offensive may be that comprehen- sive, but the quarterback need not sprain his brain over it at any given point.
 simple Stuh.
 There are our heroes receiving. The halfback takes the kickoff on his three and runs it back to the twenty-two, good run, ending up near the right sideline. Which of those half a hundred plays to call? It's simple, says Murray. No for ward or lateral passes so early in the game and so near the home gool line. Too dangerous. The coach has given three or four scoring plays to be run only from the enemy's line or closer; they are out of the question now. Being close to the right sideline, the plays outside right tackle would be damned up too easily. The coach hasn't said to kick on first or second down, so those plays are thrown out of con- Sideration. For the plays that in- volve intricate and multiple ball. handling behind the line-its too soon; the players are stiI. nervous and tumble at this point would be fatal. It is smart to be orthodox, Esquire continues, so if the first feeling thrust at the opponents line doesn't gain, the wise little q. b. runs play that will maneuver the ball nearer the center of the field so as to be in better bunting posi- tion.
 So the fifty plays simmer down to half a dozen that are eligible to open the attack, a mental problem that should not floor a child.
 "The only completely unorthodox signal calling I have ever seen is that of the Washington Redskins, in our pro league" Murray relates. They'll do anything but the eX- pected. I shan't be surprised some day to see one of their players re- treat ninety yards for a deliberate safety. Last fall, when the score was 0-0, the Eagles sent quick kick dead to their one-foot line. Non- chalantly the Redskins went into kick formation, with Sammy Baugh deep in the end zone. The Eagles struggled to block the kick. But there wasn't any. Baugh tossed a short pass behind the line, and the receiver was of for a twenty-five yard gain! There was a demonstra- tion that the biggest gamble pays the greatest dividends when it suc- ceeds."
 A college quarterback would be scalped alive if he cut such didos early in the game, or when the score is close or tied. All too often he is pinned to the pattern of or thodoxy, crammed too full of don'ts to give him much mental freedom.
 All QuarterbackS, continues Es- quire, must early learn the law of the zones. From the goal line to their own twenty is the danger zone. Kick on first if the team is damned on top of their goal line, on sec- end or third out near the twenty. From the home twenty to the for ty-yard line is the feeling-out zone, and the professor has his selections for that area. He has another set of plays for regular use between the two forty-yard lines, and so on down to the enemy's goal line. All the quarterback needs to do is to tie strings around his fingers to remem- Der the details of the blueprint as drawn for him by the coach.
 Wet Ball Trouble.
 Weather cuts a quarterback's rep ertoire to dozen or so of the safest and dullest plays. No one quarrels with that strategy, but Esquire points out that heavy rain is like ly to put the strain on the signal callers hrawn rather than his hrair
 Another dictator of quarterback policy is schools basic strategy. Notre Dame, for instance, collects dividends by hanging onto the ball, Harry Kipke used to win conference championships for Michigan with his punt-pass-prayer system, kicking constantly, then waiting for break. Here again it's the coach who thinks {. not the quarterback.
 Tuarxy kaoNNN lanE ft.l1 NNtaatala