Talk:Lateral pass

This sentence is confusing:"In NFL rules a backward pass other than the snap, if muffed by a receiver before it first touches the ground, after it touches the ground the ball becomes dead if an opponent recovers it."Edison 05:24, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

This is also confusing: "(But if the lateral is thrown from beyond the line of scrimmage and it advances the ball, it is considered an illegal forward pass.)"  How can the lateral advance the ball, and still be a lateral? If the statement is somehow correct, an explanation of why would help. Zooterkin 16:36, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree with Edison. This sentence is not only confusing but also wrong. According to this article, regarding the NFL game between 49ers and Raiders,(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/09/SPG6BLLEOS1.DTL) a muffed backward pass, other than the snap, was recovered by the defense and resulted in a defensive touchdown.Emazwmenos 20:21, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Lateral pass is not in the football lexicon.
There is either a forward pass or a backward pass.

I think the title of this article should be changed to backward pass. What do you think? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Smokedadro (talk • contribs) 04:37, 29 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Although the rule book uses that term, no one else does. Commentators and fans alike have long referred to that kind of ball transfer as a lateral; you wouldn't have the popular hook and lateral trick play if they didn't. Wikipedia's naming conventions seem to suggest we should stick with the current title:"Names of Wikipedia articles should be optimized for readers over editors; and for a general audience over specialists." The latter, to me, is clearly that group of people who would refer to, and change terminology in other articles to read, a "backward pass". I know we usually try to stick with the "official" name, but in situations where it's not used widely and many people are unaware of it (no one uses National Passenger Railroad Corporation, but everyone knows what Amtrak is), we should thus use the "incorrect" term. Daniel Case 05:01, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

But saying Amtrak is not wrong. It is painted on the sides of the train, it is in their logo, on TV. Saying "lateral" is wrong. It is not a football word. There is a difference. You shouldn't try to put any value on what commentators and fans say. They don't have a clue what they are talking about anyways. Shouldn't we try to educate people to get them to stop using the term lateral? Look at this quote from above: "But if the lateral is thrown from beyond the line of scrimmage and it advances the ball, it is considered an illegal forward pass." Some people even use lateral to describe a forward pass, or any pass, that is thrown 30 yards down field. That sentence is very confusing to read, all because someone does not understand the terminology of football. Even if lateral is replaced with backward pass the sentence still makes no sense. There is more to changing the name than just going with the term out of the definitions of the rule book, it will help educate people. No one will be lost, it will still say something backward passes being incorrectly called laterals right at the top. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Smokedadro (talk • contribs) 13:56, 29 October 2007 (UTC)


 * The other problem is, who says "lateral pass"? I've never heard it called that; although I've heard it called a "lateral" frequently. So if we're going to use the common name, we need to move the article anyway: to Lateral (gridiron football). (Remember, the article covers the American and Canadian variants; see the Lateral disambiguation page.) My suggestion? Move the article to Backward pass, leave Lateral pass as a redirect, and add redirects at Lateral (American football) and Lateral (Canadian football). Then the lead can be changed to say "a backward pass, also commonly called a lateral..." —C.Fred (talk) 01:39, 30 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree that the name should be changed to Backward Pass with Lateral pass redirecting. The misunderstanding of football terminology is hurting the sport.  Many do not understand the concepts of offensive backs and ends.  Sometimes you can hear the TV announcer say that there are "3 tight ends" lined up.  This leads to people thinking that players are eligible depending on what position they are listed as on the roster.  I've seen people actually think that.  The TE is covered up by a split end, but they believe that the TE is eligible because he is an end.  I mean look at the quote above when some reporter used "lateral" to describe a forward pass.  Just because the average person is clueless doesn't mean that we should cater to them and not educate them.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Smokedadro (talk • contribs) 16:25, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

In my experience, since a backward pass is usually (but not necessarily) thrown with an underhand motion, any pass thrown with such a motion is commonly, but incorrectly deemed to be a "lateral". This leads to the oxymoron "forward lateral", which in my days of grade school playground touch football, was a forward pass made with an underhanded motion, and considered incorrectly to be illegal. But in all codes of American football, the only distinction is whether or not the ball moves to any degree forward (forward pass, no matter how thrown), or parallel to or behind a cross-field line through the point from which the throw was made (a backward pass, no matter how thrown). As the article says, there are no restrictions on how, where, who, or how many backwards passes are made; only one forward pass may be attempted during any one down, and may only be thrown from behind the line of scrimmage. But a forward pass can legally be thrown in an underhand manner, and a backward pass made with the overhand motion commonly associated with a forward pass is still a backward pass.

And while many backwards passes are indeed thrown more or less sideways or laterally, some (such as during a flea-flicker play) are thrown more or less directly backwards, so while "lateral" is a common name, the really correct name is backward pass. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.29.207.109 (talk) 21:00, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

I so totally agree that the official term should be used by professionals. In my own field, electricity, the term "outlet" technically, meaning in the National Electrical Code, refers to the box, not the receptacle, which is what its use usually means. So you have receptacle, switch, and lighting outlets. This proper terminology should be used by professionals.

Likewise, the term "lamp" refers to the bulb, and what is usually meant by "lamp" is a cord and plug connected lamp holder.

These are just examples from my own field to backup what I've read here. Sparkfighter (talk) 03:31, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

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