Inspired by that thread last week about stacking an entire team with elite offensive linemen and running for 3 yards every single play.
What other crackpot strategies would you like to see an NFL team try? I’ve got two…
1: A rugby-style offense that’s the polar opposite of the tush push. get your speedsters in a Flying V formation in the open field and let them lateral it to each other.
2: An offense that starts 2 mobile QBs (one lefty one righty) in shotgun every play. ball could get snapped to either one to run a somewhat normal offensive scheme, or just max out the gimmicks and do a bunch of flea-flicker, double-pass type stuff with the two guys back there
As a person who love both Rugby and American Football, I am all for the idea of having a lot more laterals. I personally think that neither of the two sports is perfect, but something in between would be really cool. American football, but with more on-field kicking (either to other players or for drop-kick field goals) and more laterals. Also make the PAT kick attempt align with where the TD was scored like rugby does.
The problem with lateraling in American football is that the person you’d toss it to would be far more effective as a blocker, which is illegal in rugby. If he’s blocking instead of positioning for a lateral, the ball never goes backwards, never has that fairly high chance of becoming a fumble of some kind, and if the player lateraling doesn’t time it right, the defender doesn’t commit to the tackle and just runs right by, gaining nothing.
A planned lateral in football is extremely situational, success almost completely relying on catching the defense off guard, and it’s almost always better to just block. If it occurs regularly and the defense isn’t surprised, it’s objectively worse.