End run

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A run around right end Yost tackle over lhb.jpg
A run around right end

In gridiron football, an end run is a running play in which the player carrying the ball tries to avoid being tackled by running outside the end (or flank) of the offensive line. [1] It is distinct from a dive, which is a run "up the middle", or an off-tackle run, which is a run through the inside gap created by the offensive tackle. Most option offenses are based on the end run. [2]

Colloquially, and in a metaphorical sense it has come to mean an attempt to avoid a difficult situation by dodging it without confronting it directly, or to attempt to circumvent someone's authority by appealing to a different authority. [3] For example, in Star Trek: The Next Generation , a character states: "You need to take it to the Captain, fine – through me. You do an end run around me again, I'll snap you back so hard you'll think you're a first-year cadet again." [4]

Defensive strategy

Clay White attempts an end run during a 1959 game. Clay White (1959 Nebraska football).jpg
Clay White attempts an end run during a 1959 game.

When faced with an opposing team using the end run, one requires three things to stop it: outside containment (from say a cornerback), defense of the cutback (from say a defensive end), and a safety (to defend the halfback pass). [2] [5]

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References

  1. "Definition of END RUN". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  2. 1 2 Defensive Football Strategies, pg. 132
  3. Caruba, Alan (January 16, 2013). "Obama is Begging for Impeachment". The Moral Liberal. Retrieved January 16, 2013. ("An end run around Congress.")
  4. IMDb - "Star Trek: The Next Generation" The Best of Both Worlds: Part 1 - ("You need to take it to the Captain, fine - through me. You do an end run around me again, I'll snap you back so hard you'll think you're a first-year cadet again.")
  5. Arnsparger, Bill (1998-07-24). Arnsparger's Coaching Defensive Football. CRC Press. ISBN   9781574441628.