Football 201: Deception!

Even with the best players, if a team was to try a running play every time, the other team would adjust to stop the run. They might, for instance, mass all their 11 players in a bunch so that it would be all but impossible to successfully block for the running back.

Likewise, if a team threw passes every play, the defense would place all its players deeper in the field, making it very hard to avoid an interception. Wherever the wide receivers tried to run there would be a defensive player standing there waiting.

So offensives try to confuse the defense by switching from running plays to passing plays; by creating very complicated plays designed to confuse defenders; and often times by pure trickery -- a fake run, a fake pass, etc.

The most obvious way to keep defenses off balance is to switch between passing plays and running plays. The most obvious way to do this is to have the center (the "snapper") snap the ball to the quarterback on every play. The quarterback can either pass the ball or he can give the ball to a running back who will run (hopefully in the spaces that his blockers -- the linemen -- create for him.) And so although the ball can be snapped to any player (except another lineman) it's pretty standard for the quarterback to receive the snap these days.

Deception. Who's the got the ball?

In the old days this was not the case. Often times two, three or four players would line up in a row behind the linemen. The center could snap the ball to either of the players, depending on the play. Those players would run to their right, to their left, straight ahead, or they'd stop and throw a pass. All of it would be according to however the play was designed -- an orchestrated choreographed, well-practiced movement of eleven players.

A formation

In the OFL this sort of confusion is pretty standard stuff..

Could be pretty confusing to the defense, right?