I have thought about this for years, and mentioned it in passing as a sidenote to a few threads. But after reading about practice with rugby balls, and this absolute beauty of a try by my Highlanders tonight, I have to mention this in its own thread. First, enjoy the try courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald:
Early Try of the Year candidate
My thoughts on this wrt the gridiron is that defenses completely collapse to the ball. In rugby, defenses have to defend laterally as that is how the ball moves. A rugby pass is usually thrown from the hip as a two handed spiral. This is crisp and accurate. Not like the old school lateral flips from the Oklahoma/Nebraska days of wishbone option.
So think of requiring a defense to defend laterally in addition to vertically. Think short yardage, like a QB sneak or the "Tush Push". The QB (or could be RB) get held up at the line---very similar to a rugby scrum. Bam! A crisp rugby pass comes out to a back (or the H-back coming around from the opposite side) and since all the defenders bunched up at the ball, there is space. Think of running this off a bubble screen. Or doing it as an unplanned maneuver on downfield passes, not just on a planned trick play like the hook and lateral.
The skills to do this are not difficult. I see primary school kids in NZ do this all the time. Could revolutionise offensive football.
Yeah, I'm a few beers in. But I can be simultaneously impaired and brilliant. It is my superpower.
Early Try of the Year candidate
My thoughts on this wrt the gridiron is that defenses completely collapse to the ball. In rugby, defenses have to defend laterally as that is how the ball moves. A rugby pass is usually thrown from the hip as a two handed spiral. This is crisp and accurate. Not like the old school lateral flips from the Oklahoma/Nebraska days of wishbone option.
So think of requiring a defense to defend laterally in addition to vertically. Think short yardage, like a QB sneak or the "Tush Push". The QB (or could be RB) get held up at the line---very similar to a rugby scrum. Bam! A crisp rugby pass comes out to a back (or the H-back coming around from the opposite side) and since all the defenders bunched up at the ball, there is space. Think of running this off a bubble screen. Or doing it as an unplanned maneuver on downfield passes, not just on a planned trick play like the hook and lateral.
The skills to do this are not difficult. I see primary school kids in NZ do this all the time. Could revolutionise offensive football.
Yeah, I'm a few beers in. But I can be simultaneously impaired and brilliant. It is my superpower.
