I’m watching the St. Louis vs. Cleveland game, and St. Louis, as is its tendency, just ran a trick play: the “tackle eligible” play, where a lineman ends up as a receiver. I’ve seen this play before, but usually (I thought), the tackle is lined up outside the regular tackle; in other words, he’s where a tight end normally would be. But when they showed the replay of this particular play, the tackle in question was in his regular spot, right next to the guard. I was under the impression that this was an ineligible position for him to be a receiver, and that the only way a tackle can be eligible is by being an “extra” tackle.
Is there some loophole in the rule, or is a regular old tackle eligible to be a receiver on every play? Surely he can’t, or else you’d have it going on during every play! (I know that a tackle has to report to the official if he plans on lining up as an eligible receiver, but I could swear I heard Madden say that this play had something to do with the formation; yet I’m sure I saw the tackle–St. Clair was his name–just two spots over from the center.)
OK, I’ve rambled long enough. Can any football rules experts help out?
I thought that St. Clair had been lined up in the tight end spot, but I’ll take your word. I thought I heard Madden incorrectly say that Joaquin Gonzalez was in at St. Clair’s tackle position (Gonzalez is a backup tackle for the Browns, he might have meant Grant Williams? I don’t know what he was talking about).
Anyway, there is a way that a guy lined up two spots from the center can be eligible. They have packages called unbalanced formations they bring in to do this kind of whacked out crap- you see more of it in college. The rule is that there must be seven men on the line of scrimmage- the tackle must be “covered” in any formation. BUT- there is no rule that the guy in the middle has to be the guy snapping the ball. So picture a seven man line where the left guard is actually the center- like this:
J X O X X X X
…Qb…
Where “O” is actually snapping the ball, and J is St. Clair. That’s legal. Now, J- who by the looks of things is playing left tackle, is an eligible receiver. In other words, the formation above is, according to the rules, identical to this one:
J X X O X X X
…Qb…
Obviously, the J in this case is what you’d consider a tight end. Move the quarterback over to the left one spot, and things get weird looking, but it’s the same formation. If there are seven men on the line of scrimmage, the quarterback can take the snap from any of them.
I forgot- the only receivers who are eligible are the ones on the outside of the formation, or off the line of scrimmage. That’s why the five offensive linemen are ineligible usually. St. Clair would be eligible because he’d be outside of the five offensive lineman.
OK, thanks. I believe Madden did say something about an “overload” formation (or maybe he said “unbalanced”). Isn’t there a variation that’s even more extreme that they call the “swinging gate” or something? I think I saw this a few years ago and just about everyone was to one side of the ball.
Yeah, the swinging gate is something they’ll do on kicks sometimes, so they can either shift into a regular formation or run a fake. If the defense doesn’t adjust they can run a play, if they do they’ll just kick it.
When UCLA was coached by Bob Toledo, he would sometimes employ the swinging gate in a scrimmage play. The QB would line up under the center with everybody else split to the wide side of the field. The QB would take the snap and then flip it to a back would then proceed down the field with a big group of guys in front of him, presumably in front of an unsuspecting defense.
Here are some pictures of a swinging gate offense. There are some diagrams below those that illustrate some of the variety a swinging gate play can provide.
Yes, I had found that site (“BCWarrior”) earlier. I also thought the BYU formation was interesting. I shared these with some players on the football team of the school where I teach; they said they may suggest the gimmicks to their coach.
The offense must have at least seven players “on the line of scrimmage.” Fewer than seven is a penalty - I don’t think more is, but I could be mistaken.
The outer two of these “on the line” players are eligible receivers; the inner five are not. All players lined up in the backfield are also eligible receivers.
When you see a team line up with multiple wideouts to a single side, pay attention to just how close to the line they are (the officials certainly are!). Generally one of them will be right on the line of scrimmage, making him the outer man of the required seven. The others will be a yard or so back, which by rule puts them in the backfield (and thus eligible receivers).
Occasionally there will be a brain fart, and a two guys on the same side will both set up on the line. If this happens, the innermost of them is not eligible, which opens the team up to an ineligible-receiver penalty. A wide receiver on the strong side can “cover up” the tight end this way, too (making him ineligible), if he’s not paying attention.
Or, similarly, none of the receivers on a side will be right up to the line of scrimmage. This normally leads to a penalty for only having six men on the line, as (unless the tackle was intended to be eligible) the formation probably called for one of them to be there.
There is no penalty for illegal formation if there are more than seven players on the line, but as ** brad_d ** pointed out, you are likely to get an ineligible receiver penalty.
In theory, you could have 10 guys on the line and just a QB to take the snap.
And the player snapping the ball doesn’t have to be in the center. You could have the end snap the ball.
