We had a high school game last Friday between two undefeated teams. It was a great game and this was the play of the day.

Quarterback takes the snap, then throws it backwards to the tackle behind the line of scrimmage. The tackle then throws it downfield to a wide open receiver for the touchdown. As far as I can tell, it was all legal (correct me if I'm wrong.)

Anyone else seen some really great, unique plays?

Offense lines up in trips left formation, so that the wide recievers are in a straight line behind each other. QB throws backwards pass to the furthest back man. The other two block, the back then throws it to tightend.

Later in the game, exact same formation, QB throws backwards pass to the same guy. TE is covered tight, but the QB ran a sideline pattern down the otherside, halfback just throws it up and puts a lot of air under it. QB is wide open, then he catches it and runs for TD.

what number was the tackle? how was he eligible? i would think he is ineligible by position and number. it doesnt matter if he caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage if he is not elegible to begin with. the only way he could catch the ball if it was touched by a defensive player. please tell me more about this. read on page 49 of the case book, 7.2.5 situation a. it tlks about who is eligible.

[Edited by yankeesfan on Oct 27th, 2003 at 11:16 PM]

7-5-6 "Pass eligibility rules apply only to a legal forward pass."

what are you saying? just because it does not cross the line of scrimmage does not mean it is not a legal forward pass? please clarify. or, because the quarterback threw a latteral to the tackle it was a legal play?

[Edited by yankeesfan on Oct 27th, 2003 at 11:34 PM]

i have to apologize, when i first responded to this i missed the point you wrote about the pass being backwards to the tackle, which makes it a legal play. i never witnessed anything like that before. sorry about that.

I've never seen that play either, although it would be fun to see. Except, I bet there would be a lot of hootin and hollerin from coaches and fans about it being illegal.

Reminded me of the one time a team that always used the
"swinging gate" or "muddle huddle" on their extra point, and
I noticed the center who technically was on the end of line and wearing #85. Sure enough, after snapping the ball back to the holder -- he trots on by me (I'm at U)-- the holder rises and lobs a pass to him for the easy 2 points and a one point win !!

I'm sure they told the officials about it before the game, but I can't find anything about legality since it is a backwards pass, so I wouldn't think number has anything to do with it. I had never thought about a "center eligible" play, but I guess if he's uncovered and there's seven on the line, why not?

How many other loopholes are there in football?

These aren't really loopholes. They're simply plays and formations that aren't normally seen. Therefore, they can sometimes be effective. But if they were run all the time, the defenses would soon catch on. With the element of surprise gone, the plays would probably fail, miserably.

Those guys are usually wearing the big numbers for a reason, and fluid grace aint usually one of them.

Good point BktBallRef. I guess I didn't mean loopholes, but rather instances, possiblities, or plays that no one thinks about to run (ie, the backward pass to the tackle.)

How about, in NF, punting or kicking to a WR behind the line of scrimmage or other sort of wingback. Never seen it, but it's legal.