Forward Pass has come a long way since its humble beginnings more than 100 years ago. Year after year, it becomes more and more an integral part of the game`s strategy, while captivating fans of a screen passage and check-down with each long bomb and «Ave Maria». The NFL has seen an increase in mileage with every decade of its existence. From the 69,444 yards of passes gained in 1933-39 (note: statistics were officially compiled in the first seven years) to 1,135,331 yards gained in 2000-09. As Hall of Famer founder and Green Bay Packers founder Curly Lambeau once said, «I prefer to adapt. I thought it would be the easiest way to lift construction sites. In both rugby codes, the direction of the pass is relative to the player making the pass, rather than the actual trajectory relative to the ground. A forward pass occurs when the player plays the ball forward relative to himself. [66] (This applies only to the player`s movement, not to the direction in which the passerby looks, i.e.: If the player looks back and walks towards his team`s goal area, he is not forward; And vice versa, if the player goes to the opponent`s goal area, he is ahead.) In rugby league, the video referee is not allowed to judge whether a pass is forward.

[67] In St. Louis` opener against Carroll College on September 5, 1906, Bradbury Robinson threw the first legal pass forward in football. The throw touched the ground without being touched, resulting in a roll. But Robinson then scored with a 20-yard touchdown pass. Thanks in part to the forward pass, St. Louis, undefeated, outscored its 1906 opponents 407-11. The Chicago Tribune reported 18 football-related deaths in 1904, mostly among preschool players. After the deaths of another 19 people the following year, universities such as Stanford, Northwestern and Duke stopped playing football. Others have threatened to do the same if no changes are made. On October 27, 2007, in a Division III varsity football game, Trinity University trailed conference rivals Millsaps College by two points with two seconds left. From his own 39-yard line, Trinity shouted a play for a short pass over center.

The receiver threw the ball back, with a series of additional backpasses, as players risked being tackled. The Mississippi Miracle eventually included 15 return passes when he rushed for 61 yards for a touchdown. [8] Another well-known game was played in a college football game between Presbyterian and Wake Forest in 2010. In this trap game, three lateral pass rules were used in combination. First, the quarterback passed the ball to the side while intentionally bouncing the ball off the ground (a so-called «false fumble pass»). The pass catcher faked the end of the game, suggesting it was an incomplete pass, but then passed the ball to a wide receiver who successfully ran for a touchdown. [6] Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe described the game as «as well executed as anything I`ve ever seen.» Notre Dame opened the scoring when Dorais threw a 40-yard touchdown pass that Rockne caught in the crotch, and the shots continued as the Irish scored five touchdown passes. Dorais completed 14 of his 17 passes for 243 yards in the win that put Notre Dame on the football map. In both codes of rugby (Union and League) is a forward pass against the rules.

Usually, this results in a scrum by the opposing team, but on rare occasions a penalty may be awarded if the referee deems that the ball was deliberately thrown forward. [66] Because the rules advised against passing, football remained a ground game – and deadly. The Chicago Tribune reported 31 football-related deaths between September 1908 and the summer of 1909, and the Army and Navy canceled their 1909 seasons after each team killed a player from football injuries. But it was the English who took football to heart. In 1863, they developed «The Laws of the Game» from «The Football Association», commonly known as the Football Association. Young boys who asked if they wanted to play football or the «club» shortened the name to «assoccer» and later only to «soccer». Since St. Louis was geographically isolated from the dominant teams and mainstream sports media of the time, all of which focused on the East, Cochems` revolutionary offensive strategy was not replicated by the big teams.