american football -> rugby ?

David Post, over at the Volokh conspiracy, thinks that (American) football teams should use more laterals and handoffs, just like rugby! The last play from scrimmage in the Saints-Jaguars game this past weekend. Post thinks that football players, by incorporating rugby techniques, could string together some long impressive plays.

There's a couple reasons why plays like this aren't as effective as Post would like them to be. It's really no surprise that you only see them as desperation plays at the end of games.

1) If you screw up and the pass goes forward (after the ball's passed the line of scrimmage), it's an illegal forward pass and the play's whistled dead (see, for example, the last play of the Eagles-Panthers game a few weeks ago). While Post would have teams practice laterals to avoid this, I don't think they could devote enough time to it to become proficient. There's plenty of other things that they practice.

2) Laterals, if dropped or badly thrown, remain live balls. In other words, the other team can recover it and possession changes. While the trickery of these plays can have a big payoff, the risk is just as big, if not bigger. You generally don't want to give your opponent the ball in good field position, and every time you lateral there's a chance it could happen.

3) Rugby players have different abilities and skills from football players. While I don't know all that much about rugby, I'm pretty confident in saying that the average speed on a rugby team is faster than the average speed on a football team (think of all those offensive linemen). From what I understand of rugby, those nifty weave plays work because almost everyone on the team can be involved with them. With football, you're basically going to be looking at the wide receivers, the running backs, and the tight end(s). Football players just aren't built to "use handoffs and laterals and intricate, weaving runs by the players off the ball to move the ball downfield."

Gadget plays are great fun to watch. But there's good reason why you seem them used so seldomly.

(also, Post calls the Hail Mary stupid and generally futile. Futile, yes. But there's a reason it's called a Hail Mary. Also, few NFL quarterbacks have arms strong enough to heave it into the endzone from their own 25.)