Revenge of the Birds
In the second quarter of the Arizona Cardinals’ road game against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3, FOX Sports color analyst Adam Amin stated on a second-down play, “Looking for McBride. He is almost like an extension of the run game as Ji’Ayir Brown brings him down near the line to gain.”
Come again? The what? Line to what? Line to gain?
Didn’t he mean just shy of getting the first down? The first down marker? Just shy of moving the sticks? Of moving the chains?
But that’s not what he said. And that’s not what a lot of television analysts are saying these days. They are saying that the first down marker is the line to gain.
Where the heck is this coming from, and what the hell is the “line to gain?”
To clarify, the “line to gain” is the “first down marker.” They are the same thing. It is that in just the past few seasons, line to gain has been getting its due with a lot of usage. And if you pay attention, in today’s game, it is being said almost every American Football game, whether it is college, professional football, or the local high school game.
The fact is, “line to gain” is in the rule book and always has been.
It is just one of those things that was never used to describe any aspect of the game until now. Just like the center position. In the NFL rulebook, “center” is not used but described the position as the “snapper.” That is why on punts, field goal attempts, drop kicks, and PATs, the guy who shoots the ball to the holder is called the “long snapper.” At all times, this position is “the snapper.” The word “center” was brought over from rugby and conveniently used. Everyone calls the guy who begins each play the center so much that we all use it.
Another example is the annual college draft in which hundreds of young men are chosen by NFL clubs in reverse order of how they finished the following season, with the league champion selecting dead last. This is to enhance parity among all of its teams. If the same four or five teams win the title each year, then fans become bored and complacent. Likewise, if the bottom four or five clubs lose almost every game each year, fans quit coming to games.
The draft, held in April, helps the bottom third of teams get better. But the process is not called “the NFL draft.” Its official title is the “Annual Player Selection Meeting.” However, everyone calls it “the draft,” and so we go with it.
Yet another example of aspects that are incorrectly described is when the center, or snapper, gets the ball to the quarterback; we refer to that as a “hike” or a “snap.” Both are sorta kinda correct. But the true verbiage is the center “passes” the ball to the...
