paddingtongreen

The contact in rugby and in the NFL are very different, hitting off the ball, all the padding. The guy I wrote about was too small for the NFL, but a good size for rugby.
The art of pitching is just as complex as that of bowling, using one or two pitches to set up a third, to watch for anyone trying to steal, etc.

Duncan Roberts

The only real goal of a baseball batter is to not get out. Anything after that is a bonus.

cindyabs

Until it's time for their team to take the field, then they would have something else to do.

orangemirror

The roles of a player in American Football are so specific and most have no real comparison to the skills required of a rugby player. The way they throw and catch the ball is completely different and even the way they tackle.

I would love to see a top Running Back like Adrian Peterson have a go at Rugby as either a Centre or Winger. Also would have loved to see someone like Jonah Lomu or Jason Robinson try out as a Running Back.

Duncan Roberts

Well then they would be a fielder and not a batter!

Duncan Roberts

They tried to get Lomu for years and offered some good money. His illness and unwillingness to give up NZ kind of ended that.

orangemirror

I think the Cowboys were after him weren't they?
My favourite non-England player ever. A real shame that his peak career was so short because of illness.

I was watching the Falcons game and when it finished they swiched over for the last minute of the Denver game. Was a great (and flukey) finish. Loved it when he ran along the 1 yard line to eat up some for more seconds.

paddingtongreen

That is a very weird point of view and often wrong. Think sacrifice bunt. Think sacrifice fly.

cindyabs

or a fielder up at bat, yes?

penguinsix

American football is extremely complicated and precise at a player specific level such that it would be quite difficult to pick up the nuances later in the game. The routes the receivers run, the person the lineman is supposed to hit (and where he is to hit him, be it left or right side, etc) changes by the position of the defense on each play, the down and yards to go and overall strategy of that series of downs. That's why sometimes you see the quarterback throw the ball to a spot on the field where there is simply no one present--the QB read the play one way calling on the receiver to break left, but the receiver noticed the safety was drifting toward one side of the hash mark which required his adjustment to break right. Needless to say, learning all these different 'reads' and adjustments later in life is difficult.

Conversely, the nuances of rugby are lost on most Americans who think of it as a grown up version of 'smear the queer' (the un-pc version of what we called a similar game as kids where you basically tackled whoever had the ball). There are a few Americans who are playing in the Premier League now, but many of them played rugby at the high school and college level in the US learning some of these skills. There has always been thoughts of 'taking ex NFL players and turning them into rugby powers' but it is simply a different game. The instincts necessary to be a top flight rugby player cannot be picked up overnight.

This has a good comparison:

http://wesclark.com/rrr/pads_and_helmets.html

A point they make is that rugby is a contact sport and American football is a collision sport. American football is a game of inches--literally trying to stop the forward progress of a 250lb running back instantaneously yielding not even an inch, whereas in rugby you tackle and can afford (usually) to give up a few feet. As a result American footballers overcommit to the tackle, attempting to basically 'stop' a runner's forward progress completely and ruggers are often content to 'stop' or delay a runners progress in an attempt to obtain the ball through a turnover. It leads to a different style of tackling and it takes a different toll on the body.

This is a good article on the athletic differences between the two by a US Eagle rugby player who now is involved as a physio in the US.

http://www.ballsout.com/art_rugbynfl.htm

penguinsix

FWIW, I think NFL and American football becomes far more interesting when you learn more about it. When you see the formations and adjustments being made and start to identify likely plays and routes that will be run, letting you focus in a bit better on the action and some of the setup that is necessary. For example, anticipating a blitz package or recognizing when a draw play is going to occur lets you focus more on some of the complex bits of the game. In some ways Madden NFL is a pretty good teaching tool for a video game in that it helps you understand what is going on and why.

orangemirror

Interesting articles on the differences in tackling between the 2 sports. Thanks for posting
I wonder whether the style of tackling changed because they started wearing padding/helmets or they started wearing padding/helmets because of the different style of tackling and they kept getting injured?
A bit of both I guess?

I watched a game of rugby on tv with my USA father in law recently and he just couldn't understand why a player would pass it rather than take the tackle. I tryed to explain how play carried on, etc but it was just too engrained in him that you hold onto the ball. Funny.

Ridski

Agreed. I was always a fan of NFL since the days it was shown on Channel 4, but I never really understood it until I started playing Madden properly. When you play that enough, you can actually see plays being set up and sometimes you can even anticipate what play is going to be called based on what you would do if you in this position in Madden. Before I never saw a point to the rushing game at all, thinking it was a waste of time and energy. Now I know why you would want to waste time, if you're 6 points up with 2.13 on the clock.

Now I LOVE NFL, am getting into college football (although my local team never seems to be on TV), and spend all spring and summer waiting for the season to start again.

Bob

Pats v Bills lastnight....I gave up when it looked like the Pats were going to get stuffed with just under 2 mins remaining....checked the score for a laugh after going for a piss, missed Brady getting 2 touchdown passes to win the game by a point.

Not bad, bit of a tight start for the season though.

cindyabs

My DH was a fan years before the thought of having a Yank in his life (he supported the Chiefs, ), and now that he lives here has gotten into Fantasy Football etc. He even watches college games, something I never got into, even when I was in college. Anyway, he has now seen the light and supports the Pats,