Talk about a week of rare birds. Yesterday, I saw an Albatross in the President’s cup, and tonight Jumbo Elliot just tied the Jets/Dolphins game with his first catch, and first touchdown, ever, as a Tackle Eligible.
As I understand it a Tac-El has to report to the referee as an eligible receiver (offensive linemen usually cannot go out for a pass). I saw an eligible lineman report in at one of the few pro games I’ve seen, and the referee announced the fact to the crowd.
So as usual, I have more than one question. First, is it required to announce the existence of a Tackle Eligible, to either the crowd or the other team, by the officials?
Second, how often does this happen? Can someone explain to me the nuances of the offensive line here, like how and why a tackle can take the place of a tight end?
And finally, why does this play work? Won’t a defense simply take the outside lineman as an eligible receiver as a matter of course, or are they fooled by the numbers on the jersey? Where’s the “trick” in this trick play?
Here I go WAG’ing away again. Take all of this with a grain of salt (Sheesh, and I used to be a tackle…)
The numbers 50 through 79 are reserved for centers, guards and tackles. These guys ordinarily have to be within two players of the center (no big thing for the center) and cannot carry the ball. If the tackle lines up way out on the end (I assume he did) without declaring eligibility, it’s an illegal formation. My guess is that declaring for an offside formation was originally a way to field eleven players if you ran out of ends and receivers.
The advantage has to be that the defense has never planned for this formation. After all, what idiot of a quarterback or coach would think that a tackle could ever catch a football?
I think Elliott was lined up in an eligible position because the Jets were in a short yardage situation and opted to use him in the tight end position. Most of the time in this situation, the tackle is lined up there for blocking purposes. Every now and then, he gets a pass thrown to him.
The play the Jets can’t be done in college football. Elliott was automatically ineligible because of his number in college ball if he’s on the line.
They went for two because they were down by 23. Three tochdowns, two two-point conversions, and a pat would have brought them even. I guess the coach thought that they should go for two while the team was on a roll.
Yes, although if not everyone in the crowd hears about the tackle eligible – for instance, those people at the snack bar or in the bathroom – I don’t believe the play will be called back.
**
The tackle can take place of the tight end because the team with the ball just asked permission from the officials to do so.
**
There’s no trick. Defenses plan for this contingency the same way they plan for anything else. But say that you’re a defensive player who, 999 out of 1,000 times, does not have to deal with a tackle eligible. The one time that you do have to deal with it, you might neglect to think about it in the heat of the moment, make a bonehead mistake and give up a crucial play.
And sometimes the tackle eligible is announced just to give the defense one more thing to think about. It’s a bluff.
If I were the coach, I’d save the necessary two-point conversions for as late as possible, so as to not drain the morale if you don’t get it, which clearly means the game is lost. Also, you never know how things will turn out.
Then again, if I were the coach, I may well have benched Vinny…
See how the left tackle(capitol X) is now the man on the end of the line? That makes him eligible to receive passes, since only backs & the two ends can catch passes.
But… the player where the tight end(E) would normally play is now ineligible since he’s not on the end anymore- the split end is to that side of the field.
Basically, in a nutshell, the offence has to have 7 men on the line of scrimmage, and only the 4 backs & 2 ends are eligible for passes, no matter where they’re lined up.
Oh yeah… they trick the defense by having the split end play as near as they can to the line- it’s hard for corners to tell whether or not the tackle’s eligible or not, especially if they always line up pretty much like normal, except that the split end lines up as a back, and the flanker lines up on the line.
Thanks folks. I thought this was something nobody would ever ask about, until someone saw it happen. BobT answered most of my question four days in advance of my asking it. Proves me wrong, heh.
Am I to gather from this that, say, if everyone lined up to the right of the center, the center could report in as eligible? That doesn’t seem right.
They did this in MAS*H (the movie and book, not the TV show). The QB immediately gave the ball back to the center after the snap. The center then pretended to be injured while staggering down field while the opposing linemen dismantled the QB (Trapper John, I think) looking for the ball.
Dunno if it’s legal and I doubt it would work in a real game.
The above described play in the film MAS*H while humourous isn’t legal. You can’t hand the ball off to an interior lineman. However, if you line up everybody to one side of the center, then the center is an eligible receiver.
I saw a high school team try it once. They called it the “Lonesome Polecat” play. The QB and center lined up at one side of the field and the other nine guys were at the other hash mark.
The defense ended up putting three guys over the center and sacked the QB almost immediately.
Never did ask the coach what the point of that formation was.
Read what I said. They did make the center eligible (I wasn’t quoting the stuff from Sofa King for nothing). At least in the book they did, and I think in they did in the movie as well. The thing that might be illegal would be the forward lateral to the center.
I used to play a computer football game called Front Page Football. I created a play like this that actually worked lol. What I did was make it a shotgun formation, and have the QB lateral the ball immediately to a running back behind the wall on the other side of the field. It always worked disgustingly well. I know in a real game it wouldn’t work, since the defense would either get to the QB before he could throw or wise up and move defenders over to where the wall and running back was, but with the limited AI in that game, it always did great.
