tly be done by noting how the half-backs stand, or how the
quarter-back is standing or looking. Men will unconsciously glance in
the direction they are about to run. If a rusher is to take the ball, it
is easier to note that fact than when the leather is going to a
half-back, because the rusher is bound to assume a somewhat different
position from that he would take if he were only going to block, or make
a hole, or break through.

As soon as the captain or any other player discovers, or feels
reasonably confident that he has discovered, what the next play of the
opposing team is going to be, he should impart the information to the
rest of the team. He should try to do this as secretly as possible,
however, or else the opponents will have time to change their signal and
make an entirely different advance. It is in a case like this that quick
work counts, for if you line up and give your signal quickly the
opposing players can scarcely have time to notice the many little points
that give away the next move, and so it is harder for them to meet it.

Quick play is essential to successful and effective team-work. After a
scrimmage and a down, play should begin at once, _i.e._, just as soon as
the centre can secure the ball. Every man in the rush-line and all the
backs should be in their positions without the slightest loss of time
after they are _sure_ the man who was running is down, and all should be
alert for the signal for the next play, which is given during the
line-up. Nothing should ever be allowed to interfere with this rapid
resumption of positions except a serious injury, and then the injured
player should call to his captain for time. Any delay, even by one man,
might spoil the next play, and thus injure the chances of the whole
team.

And now for a few words about aggressive play. In this, team-work is
fully as important as in the defense, and in some cases more so. With
the majority of football elevens team-work in aggression is much better
done and more fully developed than in defensive play, but it is the team
that can offer the best organized defense--all other things being
equal--that will stand the better chance of success. The chief
aggressive move now in use, and the one that has been most widely
adopted by football-players in the past five years, is the interference
wedge. This play reached such a stage of development in Harvard's flying
wedge, three years ago, that it was the main cause for the late