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Football Archaeology's avatar

Thanks for the comment and good points. Had the rules allowed passing into the end zone, I would agree with you, but the early restrictions were, um, restrictive. End zones did not not make the top 11 innovations I noted in How Football Became Football, but since we are coming close to the start of the NCAA basketball tournament, it might make my last four out. Still fun to discuss.

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Dick Friedman's avatar

IMHO, the invention of the end zone was almost as important as the legalization of the forward pass. Before there was an end zone, on plays near the goal line the defense simply stacked the box, with no need to account for anyone except the eventual ballcarrier. It was hard for the offense to get the ball over the goal. The result was a lot of deadly, low-scoring games. (Of course, if you were an aficionado of tight defensive struggles, this was your era.) But once there was an end zone, the defense had to worry about receivers getting free and running behind them. The scores soon began to resemble those we are accustomed to today.

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