The defense might get complacent and simply converge on the wedge. Here it is shifted all the way to the side: Here it is aimed at the defensive tackle: The wedge did not merely go straight up the middle. It allowed for more flexibility, as the ends could quickly shift to wherever the play demanded. This was Stagg’s innovation and he used it a lot. Note also that the initial formation has the ends positioned behind the line of scrimmage by about two yards. They sometimes equipped themselves with leather straps on their backs for the person behind to hold onto. When Staggs wrote of the players being tightly massed, he meant this literally. The wedge must never cease pushing until the man with the ball is actually downed and absolutely held. Note: By drawing the ends in to LE(2) and RE(2), they may be enabled to strike the line ahead of the half-backs, in which case the latter will attach themselves on either side of FB as he rushes forward. The vital point in the play is that all strike the line at as nearly as possible the same instant and form a tightly massed wedge, which is driven directly through the line. QB throws himself in the rear of FB, and all push forward with the greatest possible force in a solid and tightly formed mass. At the same instant that FB reaches the line, the ends close in on either side of him directly behind the half-backs. LH and RH dash in and attach themselves behind C on either side of him.įB springs forward at the same moment, and receiving the ball on a pass at X from QB, who slips to one side, dives in directly behind C with head down. The guards lift their men back and out from the center, while C endeavors to force his man straight ahead of him.
To send FB through the center on a running mass play directly behind C, the ends and backs start forward the instant the ball is snapped.
FLYING WEDGE FOOTBALL INFLUENCE HOW TO
Here is Stagg’s description of how to run the play: We don’t talk about a defensive center nowadays, but everyone played both sides back then, and the position names were the same on either side. Stagg titles this “Running mass wedge through the center.” Note that “center” here refers not only to the center of the field, but to the player. The diagrams which follow are all from it. It includes diagrams and descriptions for a huge variety of plays. This was the wedge: a mass of players pushing forward against the defense.Ī Scientific and Practical Treatise on American Football for Schools and Colleges is a marvelous book by the great Amos Alonzo Stagg written in 1893, when he was making the University of Chicago into a football powerhouse. The response to this new advantage to the defense was for the attackers to mass around the ball carrier and prevent any defenders from reaching him. A tackle below the waist was included in this prohibition. This was changed in the late 1880s to allow tackling above the knee. There was a rule against tripping the ball carrier, and this included tripping with the hands and arms. Formerly the tackle had to be from the waist up. The second change was a loosening of restrictions on the legal tackle. The American version abandoned this restriction for interesting reasons I might write about some time, resulting in the obvious tactic of having blockers run ahead of the ball carrier. Originally it was the Rugby rule, that any players ahead of the ball were offside, and could not participate in game play until they were onside.
In modern American football the offsides rule is reduced to requiring that players on offense not cross the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped. The first was the de facto abandonment of the traditional offsides rule. This arose in response to two developments. But few actually know what it was.įirst we need to introduce the concept of a mass play. Many football fans are aware that there was a play called the ‘flying wedge.’ After all, this is a totally cool name for a play. Specifically, the flying wedge, the greatest play in football history. In honor of the new NFL season I am taking a break from writing about obscure points of baseball history and instead writing about an obscure point of football history.
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