# Origin of the football term "play action" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-football-term-play-action/472580 "2008-11-13T19:33:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-football-term-play-action/472580/1 "2008-11-13T19:33:52Z")
In (American) football, “play action” or sometimes “play action pass” is used to refer to a play in which the quarterback fakes a handoff to a running back and drops back to pass. Simple question: where did the term “play action” come from? None of the books I’ve ever seen about football or football history have answered it, and even Google seems to be drawing a blank. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-football-term-play-action/472580/2 "2008-11-14T00:43:08Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Simple question: where did the term “play action” come from? None of the books I’ve ever seen about football or football history have answered it, and even Google seems to be drawing a blank. “Play action pass” starts to appear in newspaper accounts around 1963, with a surge around 1965-66. I have no idea if something happened to popularize it around that time. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-football-term-play-action/472580/3 "2008-11-14T00:59:40Z")
'tis short for ‘running play action’, wherein ‘running’ is an adjective modifying the word ‘play’. It is a play that shows the action of a running play: QB acts like he is handing it off to RB, and RB acts as if he is taking the handoff. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-football-term-play-action/472580/4 "2008-11-14T01:06:03Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > In (American) football, “play action” or sometimes “play action pass” is used to refer to a play in which the quarterback fakes a handoff to a running back and drops back to pass. > > Simple question: where did the term “play action” come from? None of the books I’ve ever seen about football or football history have answered it, and even Google seems to be drawing a blank. FWIW In Rubgy a fake pass of that kind would be referred to as a “dummy”. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-football-term-play-action/472580/5 "2008-11-14T01:34:50Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > 'tis short for ‘running play action’, wherein ‘running’ is an adjective modifying the word ‘play’. > > It is a play that shows the action of a running play: QB acts like he is handing it off to RB, and RB acts as if he is taking the handoff. This makes perfect sense; thanks, **Philster**. Thanks, too, **samclem** , for some data on etymology. Football doesn’t seem to have the lexicographers chasing after it in the way that baseball and cricket do (seriously–there are entire books written about cricket terminology and slang), so it’s cool that there is an answer to this one. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-football-term-play-action/472580/6 "2008-11-14T03:08:02Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > This makes perfect sense; thanks, **Philster**. Thanks, too, **samclem** , for some data on etymology. Football doesn’t seem to have the lexicographers chasing after it in the way that baseball and cricket do (seriously–there are entire books written about cricket terminology and slang), so it’s cool that there is an answer to this one. To be fair, cricket has an extra 300+ years of history to document. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-football-term-play-action/472580/7 "2008-11-14T08:07:06Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > FWIW In Rubgy a fake pass of that kind would be referred to as a “dummy”. As would the guy accepting the fake, and his route (i.e. run a dummy).