tackles form another division of the
rush-line which acts as a unit. It is the business of these men to stop
the runs around the ends, of course, but now that the development of the
game has brought in so many rushes through the line, between tackle and
end, or tackle and guard, the four end men must play into one another's
hands in the tackling of opponents and in the blocking of holes that the
men opposite are trying to make.

The men back of the line must also have a perfect understanding among
themselves as to what each one will do in certain emergencies. As in
chess, they must have one or more "defenses" for known attacks, and they
must know which one of these defenses it is best to use under given
conditions. The backs supplement the work of the forwards in defensive
play against rush-line work, but the conditions are reversed in
resisting a kick. Against a kick the backs are the main defense--that
is, the team as a whole depends upon one of the four men back of the
line to make the next play, and each man of the four must know as soon
as the kick is made which one is to get the ball. In the defense against
a kick, therefore, the rushers supplement the work of the backs.

When I say that the rush-line supplements the work of the backs, I do
not mean that their efforts are to be considered in any way secondary.
At the beginning of a kick play it has been their work to hold the
opposing line as long as possible in order to keep the attacking
forwards off their own men, who are engaged in receiving and handling
the kick. Frequently the ends take an important part in the defense
against a kick by coming back with their opponents, bothering them as
much as possible, and being always ready to block or interfere for their
own back should he see a good opportunity open for a run.

Now that the rules have been amended so as to require actual kicks, it
is interesting to note some of the new plays that have been adopted to
give the rushers the opportunity to get possession of the ball again as
quickly as possible. Last year the big college teams tried all sorts of
expedients to achieve this end. One method put to the test was to kick
the ball against the opponents with sufficient force to insure its
bounding back out of the immediate reach of the man whom it struck. This
method, although it sometimes worked, is hardly a satisfactory one, and
will probably be used only as an occasional trick in unimportant games
this year.