{"id":95245,"date":"2020-09-26T13:22:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T17:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=95245"},"modified":"2022-02-02T18:43:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T23:43:45","slug":"modern-nfl-wouldnt-exist-without-forward-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/09\/26\/modern-nfl-wouldnt-exist-without-forward-pass\/","title":{"rendered":"The Modern NFL Wouldn’t Exist Without the Forward Pass"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NFL wouldn\u2019t exist without the forward pass<\/em>. It seems a dramatic statement, right? But in the 19th<\/sup> century, \u2018football\u2019 was soccer or rugby. There was the run, there was the kick. But no forward pass.<\/p>\n

Modern NFL Wouldn\u2019t Exist Without The Forward Pass<\/h2>\n

Author of Reading Football, Michael Oriard described the forward pass as \u201ccompletely alien to the game of the football.\u201d Players would hammer into each other attempting to incrementally move the ball. Punting was half the game.<\/p>\n

Violence and Death<\/h3>\n

There was no professional football, it was played in college. The game was violent and brutal, as John J. Miller, author of The Big Scrum says. In 1905, 18 players died. Columbia<\/a>, Northwestern<\/a>, Stanford, and UCLA<\/a> switched to rugby. But the game was dull and by the dawn of the 20th century, much of the country was ready to abolish it.<\/p>\n

Theodore Roosevelt and Paul Dasher Saved Football<\/h3>\n

Walter Camp<\/strong> was a key man in developing the rules and positions and had no desire for the forward pass. He wanted it to be illegal. The best he could do was enforce the rule that you couldn\u2019t score a touchdown with a forward pass.<\/p>\n

President Theodore Roosevelt<\/strong> intervened. He considered it the greatest sport because it \u201ctested\u201d people. He implored coaches from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton<\/a> to save football. Roosevelt approached Paul Dasher<\/strong>, the most famous referee of that era. Dasher put his full support into changes to eliminate brutality in the game, pushing for the forward pass. It was legalized in the spring of 1906<\/p>\n

The Ball<\/h3>\n

In 1869, the ball was\u2026 a rugby ball was designed for kicking. Former NFL MVP Boomer Esiason<\/a><\/strong> said it was \u201clike throwing a weighted basketball with laces.\u201d The size was reduced for the first time in 1909, but being heavier and harder, it was even worse to throw.<\/p>\n

The Day It All Changed<\/h3>\n

The forward pass was still a hated concept. Headlines across the country featured words like \u201cdoomed,” \u201cblacklist,” \u201cwill not last.\u201d Schools in the east considered it a \u201ccoward\u2019s trick.” Throwing a forward pass meant a team wasn\u2019t able to slug it out.<\/p>\n

On November 1, 1913, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish\u00a0<\/a>transformed it from trick to tactic. The game against the Army Black Knights<\/a>\u00a0was the turning point. Army was a powerhouse. However, they were brought to their knees when Notre Dame quarterback Gus Dorais<\/strong> threw to tight end, Knute Rockne<\/strong>. Dorais completed 14 of 17 pass attempts for 243 yards.<\/p>\n

This game was a cultural hallmark. Why? Because it was the first successful exploiting of the forward pass with New York sportswriters present. The forward pass was finally \u2018approved\u2019. The game became dynamic. Thereafter, the 20s and 30s were dominated by Rockne\u2019s \u2018Notre Dame Shift\u2019 and Pop Warner\u2019s single-wing offense.<\/p>\n

Quarterbacks Weren\u2019t Stars<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s mind-boggling, but the quarterback wasn\u2019t the leader<\/em>. The ball was snapped to a halfback or tailback. The single-wing play relied on a kick, a run, and a pass in that order. A drop kick was the main way to score points. It wasn\u2019t a mere afterthought.<\/p>\n

The T Formation Flipped Professional Football<\/h3>\n

Clark Shaughnessy was nicknamed the Mad Scientist, pioneering a T formation that would flip the football world. To the majority, it was ridiculous that any play didn\u2019t rely on the kick. As former quarterback Doug Flutie<\/a><\/strong> said, \u201cputting your hands under the center\u2019s butt\u201d to receive the ball was just awkward. The Chicago Bears<\/a> shut down the critics in the 1940 NFL Championship with a staggering 73-0 win over the Washington Redskins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Dawn of the AFL: the Star Quarterback is Born<\/h3>\n

The T formation led to the ball being streamlined specifically for the forward pass. Named the \u2018Duke\u2019 after Wellington Mara, then owner of the New York Giants<\/a>. Easy to throw and hard to kick, it signaled the death of the dropkick. The tight spirals paired with the re-engineered forward pass led to the birth of a distinctly American game, and a distinctly American hero.<\/p>\n

The position of quarterback was the fulcrum point where everything changed. There is no other position in any sport quite like that of the quarterback. 1960 was the dawn of the AFL.\u00a0 Sid Gillman implemented the concept of vertical passing. It became the most important thing; ergo the quarterback became important.<\/p>\n

The Spalding J5-V ball accentuated the forward pass. Longer, thinner, a missile cutting through the air. Compared to the 50-ton mega bomb, it glamorized the notion of the forward pass. The players saw the appeal of a vertical game.<\/p>\n

Defense Almost Ruined the Forward Pass<\/h3>\n

From 1970 began an era ruled by defense. The forward pass was dying. Doing the opposite of everyone else, San Francisco 49ers<\/a> head coach Bill Walsh<\/a> set up the run with the pass and was written off as eccentric. They were labeled a finesse team \u2013 throwing the ball wasn\u2019t how real men played football. He stuck to his \u2018West Coast offense\u2019 and kept on winning. Super Bowl XIX was his. The forward pass had conquered football after 75 years of opposition. Walsh can be credited for making usage of the forward pass what it is today.<\/p>\n

The Forward Pass Saved The Nfl<\/h3>\n

Think. F<\/em>ootball could\u2019ve been abolished<\/em>. The forward pass made it safer, but also fun. Back then, you saw scrums resembling rugby. Now, you see a ball hurtling through the air. Think of the greatest players of the last 50 years, and you\u2019ll realize the forward pass was at the center of their greatness.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>