Post by Coach Campbell on Jul 13, 2010 10:00:50 GMT
In 1894 Coach Woodruff, at Penn, drafted the principle of the flying wedge for his famous flying interference, which could be put into operation by the team that had the ball in every scrimmage down. This consisted in starting the tackle and end ahead of the snapping of the ball. They swung back together, between their line and the backfield, and then kept on to reinforce the work of their companion tackle and end, on the other side of the ball. Just before they hit the defensive line the ball went into play, and the results were again almost as disastrous to the defense as was the flying wedge. These two plays were quite as spectacular and thrilling as any that the modem game has produced. So unstoppable were they, however, that the Rules Committee was forced to legislate them out of existence within a few years in order to preserve the proper balance between offense and defense (Encyclopedia of Sports, 1978). In 1896, a rule was established to limit motion to only one player, thus, eliminating brutal momentum plays.
Glenn Scobey Warner stated in his book, Football for Coaches and Players (1927) that ball carriers cannot gain ground, no matter how clever they may be, if the opponents are not blocked out of the path of the runner, whereas a good blocking and interfering team can gain ground consistently with mediocre ball carriers.
In the early days of the game all blocking and interfering was done with the shoulder and interferers seldom left their feet, but in recent years the body or Indian block, so named because the Carlisle Indians were the first to adopt it (Warner, 1927).
Glenn Scobey Warner stated in his book, Football for Coaches and Players (1927) that ball carriers cannot gain ground, no matter how clever they may be, if the opponents are not blocked out of the path of the runner, whereas a good blocking and interfering team can gain ground consistently with mediocre ball carriers.
In the early days of the game all blocking and interfering was done with the shoulder and interferers seldom left their feet, but in recent years the body or Indian block, so named because the Carlisle Indians were the first to adopt it (Warner, 1927).