Hook and lateral

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The hook and lateral, sometimes esthetically referred to as "hook and ladder", is a trick play in American, Canadian football & indoor American football. It starts with the hook, which is where a wide receiver runs a predetermined distance, usually 10 yards down the field, and along the sideline, and "hooks in" towards the center of the field to receive a forward pass from the quarterback. Another offensive player (usually another wide receiver) times a run so that he is at full speed, just behind the player with the ball at the time of the catch. As the defenders close in on the stationary ball carrier, he laterals or hands the ball to the teammate running at full speed in the opposite direction of the original receiver. [1]

A trick play, also known as a gadget play, gimmick play or simply trickeration, is a play in American football that uses deception and unorthodox tactics to fool the opposing team. A trick play is often risky, offering the potential for a large gain or a touchdown if it is successful, but with the chance of a significant loss of yards or a turnover if not. Trick plays are rarely used not only because of the riskiness, but to also maintain the element of surprise for when they are used.

American football Team field sport

American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, which is the team controlling the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with or passing the ball, while the defense, which is the team without control of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and aims to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, and otherwise they turn over the football to the defense; if the offense succeeds in advancing ten yards or more, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.

Canadian football Canadian sport in which opposing teams of twelve players attempt to score by advancing a ball by running, passing and kicking

Canadian football is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play 110 yards (101 m) long and 65 yards (59 m) wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area.

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If unanticipated, this play puts defenders out of position, running in the wrong direction. If the second receiver catches the lateral in stride, he can be long gone before defenders can react. However, the offense runs a high risk of turning the ball over if it is not handled properly because, unlike a forward pass, a dropped lateral pass results in a live ball.

Forward pass

In several forms of football a forward pass is a throwing of the ball in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of the main distinguishers between gridiron football in which the play is legal and widespread, and rugby football from which the North American games evolved, in which the play is illegal.

Fumble A live loose ball in gridiron football

A fumble in American and Canadian football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful handing that results in loss of player possession. A fumble may be forced by a defensive player who either grabs or punches the ball or butts the ball with his helmet. A fumbled ball may be recovered and advanced by either team. It is one of three events that can cause a turnover, where possession of the ball can change during play.

Examples

Miami Dolphins National Football League franchise in Miami, Florida

The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The Dolphins play their home games at Hard Rock Stadium in the northern suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida, and are headquartered in Davie, Florida. The Dolphins are Florida's oldest professional sports team. Of the four AFC East teams, they are the only team in the division that was not a charter member of the American Football League (AFL).

Duriel LaDon Harris, Jr. is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at New Mexico State University.

Don Strock is a former American football player and coach. He played professionally as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) with the Miami Dolphins (1973–1987), Cleveland Browns (1988), and Indianapolis Colts (1989). Strock served as the head football coach at Florida International University from 2002 to 2006, compiling a record of 15–41.

"Hook and Ladder" The "hook and lateral" is sometimes referred to as a "hook and ladder." The play is referred to as the "hook and ladder" on the cover of EA Sports NCAA Football 2008, possibly because the term has been incorrectly used commonly by sportscasters, coaches and fans for years.

Speculation on origins of names

Some proponents of the term "hook and lateral" claim that the "hook" refers to the pattern run by the receiver who catches the pass from the quarterback. The "lateral" refers to the pitching of the ball by the receiver to his teammate. This is not synonymous with a "ladder", which is a specific route (also called a "chair") in which a receiver cuts out before turning up the field along the sideline. If the "hook" receiver laterals the ball to a teammate running a ladder route, the play could accurately be described as a "hook and ladder".[ citation needed ] This would not be true of many hook and lateral plays; in the case of the play run by the Boise State Broncos in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, the player who received the lateral from the "hook" receiver was running a slant route across the center of the field rather than a ladder route.

Jerard Rabb is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Boise State. Rabb, along with Drisan James, was a component of the famous Hook and Lateral play that led the Broncos into overtime against the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Drisan James American football player

Drisan Bryant James is a former gridiron football wide receiver. He was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football for the Boise State Broncos.

On the January 2, 2007 broadcast of ESPN's Around the Horn , sportswriter Woody Paige claimed, perhaps facetiously, that the name "hook and ladder" originated with NYC Firemen Football Team in Hell's Kitchen, New York. This was in response to the other panelists ridiculing his use of "hook and ladder" rather than "hook and lateral". The next day, Jay Mariotti claimed the phrase "hook and ladder" referred to coal mining in Pennsylvania in the 1930s — his research claims that coal miners need a hook and ladder when trapped in a mine. Another possible explanation is that "hook and ladder" is just a corruption of the phrase "hook and lateral".

<i>Around the Horn</i> US television program

Around the Horn (ATH) is an American sports roundtable discussion show, conducted in the style of a panel game, produced by ESPN. The show premiered on November 4, 2002, as a replacement for Unscripted with Chris Connelly, and has aired daily at 5 PM ET on ESPN ever since. The show has been recorded in New York City since September 8, 2014, and has had over 2,500 episodes aired. The program emanated from Washington, D.C., where it was located in the same studio as Pardon the Interruption (PTI). The moderator for the show is Tony Reali, who has hosted the program since 2004, replacing Max Kellerman, and also served as the statistician on Pardon the Interruption until the show's relocation to New York.

Woodrow Wilson Paige, Jr. is a sports columnist for The Gazette, author, and a regular panelist on the ESPN sports-talk program Around the Horn. He was a columnist for the Denver Post for 35 years, and co-host of Cold Pizza and its spin-off show 1st and 10 until November 4, 2006, when it was announced that Paige would return to the Post. Paige is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee and is a Baseball Hall of Fame voter.

New York City Fire Department fire department in New York City

The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is a department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection, technical rescue, primary response to biological, chemical, and radioactive hazards, and emergency medical services to the five boroughs of New York City.

A "hook and ladder" is a common name for a firetruck, which used to carry various hooks and ladders. The analogies that could be drawn to this play based on a "hook" route (with or without an actual "lateral") and a "hook and ladder" apparatus are numerous. Long extension ladders include two or more pieces, perhaps the first piece being a "hook" route, and the second piece being a run up the "ladder" to the end-zone. The second part of the play is sometimes accomplished with a hand-off, and not a lateral at all. Notwithstanding, there does not seem to be any definitive proof of what the play was originally called or why.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

Lateral pass type of pass in American and Canadian football

In American football and Canadian football, a lateral pass or lateral occurs when the ball carrier throws the football to a teammate in a direction parallel to or away from the opponents' goal line. A lateral pass is distinguished from a forward pass, in which the ball is thrown forward, towards the opposition's end zone. In a lateral pass the ball is not advanced, but unlike a forward pass a lateral may be attempted from anywhere on the field by any player to any player at any time.

Super Bowl VII 1973 Edition of the Super Bowl

Super Bowl VII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1972 season. The Dolphins defeated the Redskins by the score of 14–7, and became the first and still the only team in NFL history to complete a perfect undefeated season. They also remain the only Super Bowl team to be shut out in the second half and still win. The game was played on January 14, 1973, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, the second time the Super Bowl was played in that city. At kickoff the temperature was 84 °F (29 °C), making the game the warmest Super Bowl.

Super Bowl VIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Minnesota Vikings and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1973 season. The Dolphins defeated the Vikings by the score of 24–7 to win their second consecutive Super Bowl, the first team to do so since the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowls I and II, and the first AFL/AFC team to do so.

Super Bowl XVII 1983 Edition of the Super Bowl

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The National Football League playoffs for the 1999 season began on January 8, 2000. The postseason tournament concluded with the St. Louis Rams defeating the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV, 23–16, on January 30, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

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Flea flicker (American football)

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Epic in Miami

The Epic in Miami was the National Football League AFC divisional playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins that took place on January 2, 1982 in the Miami Orange Bowl. The game, won by the Chargers in overtime, 41–38, is one of the most famous in National Football League lore because of the conditions on the field, the performances of players on both teams, and the numerous records that were set. Many former players, coaches and writers assert it as one of the Greatest Games in NFL History. It was also referred to in the Miami Herald as the "Miracle That Died", while Sports Illustrated dubbed it the "Game No One Should Have Lost". The game aired on NBC with Don Criqui and John Brodie calling the action and Bryant Gumbel serving as the anchor, one of his final assignments for NBC Sports as he began co-hosting Today two days after the game.

Jared Zabransky is a former professional gridiron football quarterback in the National Football League and the Canadian Football League. He was signed by the Houston Texans of the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2007 though he was never on an active roster in the NFL. He did play two seasons for the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL in 2009 and 2010. He played college football at Boise State and was named Offensive Player of the Game in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.

In American football a play is a close to the ground "plan of action" or "strategy" used to move the ball down the field. A play begins at either the snap from the center or at kickoff. Most commonly plays occur at the snap during a down. These plays range from basic to very intricate. Football players keep a record of these plays in their playbook.

The 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game played as part of the 2006–2007 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) of the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The game was played on January 1, 2007, at its new venue, the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The matchup pitted the Big 12 champion No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners against the WAC champion No. 9 Boise State Broncos. The contest was televised on Fox. With this broadcast, the Fiesta Bowl became the first bowl game to air on all the "big four" television networks – the Orange Bowl became the second, the following night.

2006 Boise State Broncos football team

The 2006 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Broncos won the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championship with an undefeated 12–0 regular-season record, their second unbeaten regular season in the past three years. This was also Boise State's fifth consecutive season with at least a share of the WAC title, and the fourth in that period in which they went unbeaten in conference play. They became only the second team from outside the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) to play in a BCS bowl game when they faced Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, defeating the Sooners in a dramatic thriller.

2001 New England Patriots season Season of National Football League team the New England Patriots

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1981 Miami Dolphins season

The 1981 Miami Dolphins season was the 16th year of existence for the Miami Dolphins franchise. With the retirement of Bob Griese, not much was expected out of the Dolphins. The Dolphins Defense became known as the Killer Bees because of the number of players whose last name began with the letter B; Bill Barnett, Bob Baumhauer, Lyle Blackwood, Kim Bokamper, and Bob Brudzinski anchored a strong team. They finished 11-4-1, as Don Shula reached a milestone by winning his 200th game of his coaching career. In the Divisional Playoffs against the San Diego Chargers the Dolphins fell behind 24-0 early in front of a sold out crowd at the Orange Bowl. With time running out in the first Half the Dolphins desperately needed a score to get back in the game. Out of nowhere the Dolphins ran the old schoolyard hook and lateral play to success. On the play Quarterback Don Strock threw a pass over the middle to WR Duriel Harris who lateraled to WR Tony Nathan who ran the ball in for Touchdown. The play sparked the Dolphins who came back, and took a lead in the 4th Quarter. However, the Killer Bees could not contain Chargers QB Dan Fouts who tied the game, and forced overtime where the Chargers won the game on a Rolf Bernershka Field Goal in the 14th minute of overtime.

Miracle in Miami

The Miami Miracle, also known as the Miracle in Miami, was an American football play that took place at the end of a game on December 9, 2018, between the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. Down 33–28 with 7 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins completed a 17-yard pass and two lateral passes resulting in a 69-yard touchdown by running back Kenyan Drake. It is the first walk-off game-winning touchdown in NFL history to involve multiple lateral passes, and the first multi-lateral touchdown since the River City Relay in December 2003. After the game, the play was known by several names, most commonly the "Miami Miracle" and the "Miracle in Miami". The play went on to win the Bridgestone Performance Play of the Year Award at the 8th Annual NFL Honors Award Show on February 2.

References

  1. "What is Hook and Ladder? Definition from SportingCharts.com". sportingcharts.com.
  2. "Greatest play in Miami Dolphins history? It's a no-brainer". tribunedigital-sunsentinel.