Receiving Ability
Over the years, NFL running backs have been used more and more as receivers out of the backfield, especially with the rise in popularity of the West Coast offense and its variants. On passing plays, a running back will often run a "safe route," such as a hook or a flat route, that gives a quarterback a target when all other receivers are covered or when the quarterback feels pressured. Two backs, fullback Larry Centers and halfback Marshall Faulk, rank among the NFL's top 20 pass catchers.
Some teams have a specialist "third down back", who is skilled at catching passes or better at pass blocking and "picking up the blitz," and thus is often put in the game on third down and long. He can also be used to fool the defense by making them think he is being put into the game for a pass play, when the play is actually a run.
Read more about this topic: Running Back, Characteristics of A Running Back
Famous quotes containing the words receiving and/or ability:
“They seldom looked happy. They passed one another without a word in the elevator, like silent shades in hell, hell-bent on their next look from a handsome stranger. Their next rush from a popper. The next song that turned their bones to jelly and left them all on the dance floor with heads back, eyes nearly closed, in the ecstasy of saints receiving the stigmata.”
—Andrew Holleran (b. 1943)
“A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is an ability to articulate human relationships.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)