to go. This is equally true in fact for every man on the team, for
_every man on the team has something to do on a forward pass_. It is
just as important on a forward pass play that each eligible man know
where, when and how he is to go as it is on running plays for the
interference to know whom they are to take. This is where the mechanical
part of the "choice" method of passing comes in. To a surprising degree
this can be almost the same on all plays. It will of course vary
somewhat with the style of defense met, but again surprisingly little.

The eligible man should seldom go directly to the spot where he will
receive the pass if it comes to him. At the proper instant, which should
be pretty definitely timed for everybody on each play, and always at the
call of the passer, the receiver should turn and race to the spot where
he knows the ball will be thrown. This spot should have been previously
worked out so that the passer "leads" the receiver, the latter being in
better position to catch the ball and on the dead run. This should also
be so worked out and the preliminary run of the eligible man such, that
the receiver will get the ball with his body between the ball and his
covering opponent. Receiver and opponent should never be crashing
_together_ when struggling for a ball. It is not only dangerous but poor
strategy.

In working out the above possibilities some eligible men may often be
used simply as decoys going perhaps almost straight toward the defensive
halves and forcing them to cover them, making other eligible men more
surely available for the pass. In case the defensive halves, however,
refuse to cover these decoys, they should immediately be given the pass.
Between combinations of this sort and the problem of determining whether
a pass or run is in process, the position of defensive half in modern
football is one compared with which the "dizzy corner" in baseball is a
bed of roses. The fact is that a team with anything like a mechanical
perfection in the passing game, and any ability to select its men as
above indicated, simply cannot be stopped in mid-field. The greatest
single fault and the one thing that stops most teams, outside of
mechanical failure, is the failure of eligible men to spread widely
enough. Too often two or three eligible men go to the same zone or area
and a pass to any one of the three can be covered by a single defensive
player. Instinctively every man on the offense tries to be