# question about football trick play (Driscoll Middle School) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 8, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904 "2010-11-08T14:31:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/61 "2010-11-09T20:12:49Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Again, this comes up from time to time, though it’s not common. And I’ve also seen an international player recover the ball in-goal, forget to touch it down to make it dead, and throw it forward for the restart on the 22-metre line - only to be penalised for a forward pass (which in that circumstance meant defending a scrum uncomfortably close to their own lines). Legend has it that the great George Nepia pulled a similar trick, pretending to ground the ball for a 22 but actually touching it to his boot rather than the ground. Quick taps (and throw-ins) are pretty common in rugby. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/62 "2010-11-09T21:00:54Z")
Oregon State University used to have a cute trick play in their book. My brother was team doctor for the athletic department in the 80-earlies and he watched them run it during practice, from time to time. After a play that sets the ball on one of the hash-marks the team comes back to huddle at the regular distance behind the _opposite_ hash-mark. The huddle breaks and the team lines up with the center over the ball-absent hash-mark with the players in some innocuous layout. The QB comes up under center and realizing the error of having no ball to be snapped walks over to the the opposite hash-mark, saying, “Hey guys! The ball’s over here!” The QB then flicks it back to one of the RBs and it’s student body sweep from there! They never called it during a game, however. This was a shame because the Beavers back then were experiencing a “season unblemished by victory.” What better time to pull something like that? Oh well, bygones. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/63 "2010-11-10T04:10:52Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > I don’t remember ever seeing trick plays like this in soccer There’s [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Vaqy4UYEc) from the last World Cup. Holland against Brazil. It failed, but they did try. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/64 "2010-11-10T05:16:56Z")
> [@JXJohns](#): > > We had a team run the “wrong ball” play against us earlier this year. It went wrong for the offense similar to what was posted earlier. If the defense doesn’t bite on the trickery, it is extremely dangerous for the kid with the ball. He is standing there with no blockers, and if he’s selling the fake correctly, not even looking at the defender who is about to take him out. In our case, the QB ended up with a separated shoulder and a fumble that we ran back for six. This is my main objection to this play. It’s one that, if it goes wrong, carries a serious risk of injury. Players spend most of the time during a play trying to take hits properly, protect the ball-carrier and avoid injury, while this one requires them to ignore all that for a cheap shot at a score. Any coach who calls this is telling the kids, “Hey, I want you to put your body on the line so that we can embarrass/teach the other team a lesson.” ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/65 "2010-11-10T15:55:37Z")
I am a big fan of trick plays. Show me a well executed trick play and you’ve made my day. If I were a coach, I could run 3 or 4 a game just because. If a flea flicker statue of liberty end around wide reciever option pass hook and lateral could be done, I would do it. I would line up D lineman as fullbacks at the goal line and fake the punt whenever possible. My running back would be the second best passer and he would throw the ball at least once or twice a game. Despite that, I don’t like that “wrong ball” play. When a coach fakes getting another ball ready, that makes him part of the play which makes it 12 on 11 and wrong. If a coach trips a player in the game, his team gets penalized and I don’t see any difference between the two examples other than the coach is obviously not on the field for the wrong ball play. Misdirection and faking out an opponent is one thing, but this seems unsportsmanlike to me. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/66 "2010-11-10T18:04:01Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > There’s [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Vaqy4UYEc) from the last World Cup. Holland against Brazil. It failed, but they did try. This is the first “trick play” I’ve ever seen in soccer. I didn’t think there were any. Do you know of other examples? I was still thinking that US football has more possibilities of trick plays because the rules are so complicated. I would be willing to bet that it is the sport with the longest rule book. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/67 "2010-11-10T18:26:55Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > When a coach fakes getting another ball ready, that makes him part of the play which makes it 12 on 11 and wrong. If a coach trips a player in the game, his team gets penalized and I don’t see any difference between the two examples other than the coach is obviously not on the field for the wrong ball play. > > Misdirection and faking out an opponent is one thing, but this seems unsportsmanlike to me. I would agree. Frankly, I think any trick that involves the deception of a dead ball should be illegal. These types of plays are illegal in baseball. But in football, where this kid carrying the ball could have potentially been murdered by a linebacker, these kids of plays need to be stopped. Also, the team that pulled this play ended up losing the game. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/68 "2010-11-10T18:36:14Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > No. They know the rule. The reason the play works is, in part, that the kids aren’t looking to hit a defenseless player walking by them. You’re probably wrong here. The visual evidence shows they did nothing to try to stop him as he walked through the line; they behaved like they thought the play was dead. I don’t think there can be much argument to that point. If they knew the rules, they would’ve known the play was live, and someone would’ve made a move to attempt to stop him, grab him, or impede him in some fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/69 "2010-11-10T19:03:08Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Something similar happened in the NFL a year or so back. A kickoff return specialist caught the ball deep in the endzone and nonchalantly started walking in the general direction of the sidelines and by a ref. The kicking team made no effort to tackle him, thinking he was treating it like a touchback, the ball was dead and he was about to hand the ball to an official. Seeing their coverage had broken down, all of a sudden the return man made a dash through a gap and raced with a live ball 100 + yards for the touch. It’s all acting like the ball is dead and if you’re real lucky every once in awhile the other team will buy into that assumption. Perhaps you’re thinking of [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLZN0CabW6s) play involving the Ravens in 2002? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/70 "2010-11-10T19:04:52Z")
Eh, I don’t get all the hate for trick plays. I’d rather see two teams line up and play it straight, but trick plays have their strategic place. The Browns (NFL) used to run a fake field goal where they’d line 10 players up in their max protect package (counting on the defense not to count the players in dense formation), and have the 11th guy on the field, but over by the sideline, arguing with an assistant coach. Upon the snap, he turns around, catches the swing pass, and takes off. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/71 "2010-11-10T20:41:18Z")
There are two types of trick plays, misdirection and dead ball. I think a dead ball trick play is the sort of BS, unsafe, unsportsmanlike trick play that has no place in a game, especially not in a game at the youth level. Misdirection plays are more or less fair game at any time in any game, except perhaps at the youngest youth levels where the kids barely know the rules of the game to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![JessMagic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@JessMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/72 "2010-11-10T21:14:37Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > This is the first “trick play” I’ve ever seen in soccer. I didn’t think there were any. Do you know of other examples? Man United show Holland how it’s done: https://www.youtube.com/embed/2zKqmIRJkg4?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque Ruled out by spoilsport officials. There’s also this from Johan Cruyff and pals (complete with explanation from the great man): [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/tVpkDUE0NfY/hqdefault.jpg "Johan Cruyff's bizarre penalty") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVpkDUE0NfY) I’m not sure if it qualifites as a “trick”, or just an example of good awareness of the rules. ---
**Author:** ![carm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@carm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carm)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904/73 "2010-11-12T16:13:06Z")
> [@JessMagic](#): > > Man United show Holland how it’s done: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zKqmIRJkg4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zKqmIRJkg4) > > Ruled out by spoilsport officials. > > There’s also this from Johan Cruyff and pals (complete with explanation from the great man): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVpkDUE0NfY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVpkDUE0NfY) > > I’m not sure if it qualifites as a “trick”, or just an example of good awareness of the rules. There’s also [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCWjioIR5MM). Not really a trick but the keeper certainly wasn’t expecting him to take it so quickly. And [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y0kpT_DD6I). Shows why its always good to be aware of exactly what’s going on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-football-trick-play-driscoll-middle-school/559904.md?page=3)