What American Football Can Learn from Rugby

Last Updated Sat, 8 Feb 2014

Walter Payton and Jonah Lomu.

It'd be nice to think that your chosen game was perfect, and that no others could hold a candle to it. That is unfortunately not true, so what we settle for is the best that we can find. So with a nod to the massive differences between the sports, here's where american football could take a few cues from rugby.

American Football is primarily a high powered, short burst game whereas rugby is much more a stamina based marathon. That is the fundamental difference between the games, but that doesn't mean they don't have things to teach each other so I'm going to go through a few points that American Football can take from rugby and explain the benefits it could have to the game.

Without any further ado, let's begin;

Tackling

The tackling is brutal in both sports. There is a bigger emphasis on hard hits and multiple man tackles in gridiron. Rugby is more focused on simply ensuring the player goes to ground.

If we consider that a gridiron play ends when the ball carrier is downed, surely it makes sense for them to focus more energy on forcing the man to the ground than simply hitting him as hard as possible. Backs like Marshawn Lynch prove how useless a big hit alone is. It's the wrapping up that can be more effectively used. Not on every play, but there are a number of situations where RBs and receivers can almost bounce off tackles when they're not executed properly. Wrapping up on tackles ensures that even a small guy can bring down big targets, like tight ends.

Open Field Play

Too often you see american football players try to run around defenders, or dodge them where they could simply offload the ball. The game is set up in such a way that gaining 1 yard is preferable to potentially losing 2 yards trying to gain 10 or more. That being said, I still believe there's space for more open lays, that aren't in the last few seconds of a game. It's remarkably easy to pass an american football like a rugby ball, arguably even easier due to it's more pointed shape. The ball lends itself to longer throws, but those are mostly attempted downfield.
Consider how open you could make the field with 4 players in the backfield who could all take the ball, block or pass. It could become hellishly complicated to gameplan against, especially when interspersed with more traditional plays/formations.

Field Goals

Ever since I started watching American Football I thought their field goals were weak. They always kick from nearly the middle of the field. The extra point is laughable as a scoring play, this season 27 of 32 teams were 100% on their attempts.
A simple way to remedy this is to force them outside. It doesn't need to be as extreme as it is in rugby, but it would make it more interesting if there was a little doubt over each play.

Fitness

I'm not sure this will be a popular opinion, but NFL players aren't as fit as they should be (and they're at the top of their game). I've never seen a rugby player fuel up on extra oxygen after running the length of the field at full plet. They stop for a minute or two and gather their breath, but then it's straight back into the action and on with the game. I understand that there is a fundamental difference in how the games are played, but the oxygen tank takes it a step too far in my opinion.

That's my basic summary of some aspects of the game that could be improved upon thanks to a rugby influence. I'm going to do the other side of this article next week, as there is definitely some cross pollination that can be done.