In the fourth quarter of the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines game (which had a few NFL draft prospects that should interest the Cleveland Browns) on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day, FOX Sports color analyst Joel Klatt stated on a third-down play, “Howard’s a good runner but he got just three yards before he could get the line to gain.”
Come again? The what? Line to gain?
Did he mean, just shy of getting the first down? The first down marker? Just shy of moving the sticks? Of moving the chains? Just shy of getting a new set of downs?
But that’s not what he said. And that’s not what a lot of television analysts are saying these days. They are saying that the spot to get a first down is the “line to gain.”
Where the heck is this coming from, and what the hell is the “line to gain?”
Why are football announcers now saying “line to gain” instead of “first down line”? Who came up with “line to gain”?
— DC (@dwc1David) December 1, 2019
To clarify, the “line to gain” is the “first down marker.” They are the same thing. It is that in just the past few seasons, “line to gain” has been getting its due with a lot of usage. And if you pay attention, in today’s game, it is being said almost every American Football game whether it is college, professional football, or over the loud speaker at your local high school game.
The fact is, “line to gain” is in the rule book and always has been.
From Soccer to Rugby to American Football
The phrase “line to gain” is just one of those things that was never used to describe any aspect of the game until now.
Just like the center position. In the NFL rulebook, “center” is not used but describes this position as the “snapper.” That is why on punts, field goal attempts, drop kicks, and PATs the guy who shoots the ball to the holder is called the “long snapper.” At all times, this position is “the snapper.” The word “center” was brought over from rugby and conveniently used. Everyone calls the guy who begins each play the center so much that we all use it.
2017 Cleveland Browns Training Camp Cleveland Browns long snapper Charley Hughlett
Another example is the annual college draft in which hundreds of young men are chosen by NFL clubs in reverse order of how they finished the following season with the league champion selecting dead last. This is to enhance parity among all of its teams. If the same four or five teams win the league title each year, fans become bored and complacent. Likewise, if the bottom four or five clubs lose almost every game each year, fans quit coming to games and subsequently can’t pay their own bills much less compete.
The draft, held in April, helps the bottom third of teams get better. But the process is not actually called “the NFL draft.” Its official title is the “Annual Player Selection Meeting.” However, everyone calls it “the draft” and so we go with it.
Yet another example of aspects that are incorrectly described is when the center, or snapper, gets the ball to the quarterback, we refer to that as a “hike” or a “snap.” Both are sorta kinda correct. But the true verbiage is the center “passes” the ball to the signalcaller. The snap from the center to the quarterback is a “backward pass.” Does anyone today say “backward pass”? No. Just like we reach for a Kleenex or a Q-Tip, which really are “facial tissues” and a “cotton swab.”
Walter Chauncey Camp Walter Camp (1859 - 1925), known as ‘the Father of American football’
Photo by Getty Images
American Football came from rugby and in the beginning stages, the originator of the game, Walter Camp, used terminology that was already familiar to him when he developed how the game should be played. Many positions were the same or very similar. Numerous features on the playing field were the same or comparable. And since the game of rugby was derived from soccer, that sport’s terminology was also passed along.
From soccer, American Football stole terms such as tackle, interception, kickoff, goal line, turnover, referee, and punt, to name a few. It is why the official game time is on the wrist of a game official still today. Soccer plays 11-a-side, and what’s this? So does American Football.
RELATED: SOCCER TERMS USED BY AMERICAN FOOTBALL
So, when rugby became its own game, it simply used things that were familiar. And then when American Football was being formulated, it used terms, conditions, rules, equipment, and field markings that were already in place. As the decades rolled along, more and more rules were altered or added that molded American Football into its own sport.
Today, American Football has very little resemblance to its father sport rugby, and even less appearance to its grandfather sport of soccer.
In North America, it is called soccer. In almost every other part of the globe, the sport is called “football.” Why? Answer: it always has been.
The rules of soccer were formulated in 1863 with a set of laws organized by the English called “Association Football.” The rules of rugby were written in 1868 under the name “Rugby Football.” In 1880, the rules of “American Football” were drawn up by Camp. “Gaelic Football” rules were placed on paper in 1885 whereas “Canadian Football” was conceived in 1903 after decades of being two rugby leagues.
All of these off-shoot sports called their sport “football” after the sport of football. Clear?
Origins of “Line to Gain”
Let’s get back to this “line to gain” propaganda.
With the origins of American Football, Camp gave each offense 15 plays to drive the field and score. The problem was, offenses had issues scoring much less getting anywhere. So, teams were either giving up the ball without gaining much ground, or both offensive units just weren’t getting close to getting points.
Because games bogged down, Camp then changed the format.
In sports like basketball, hockey, water polo, and lacrosse, as long as the offense has the ball or puck, they maintain control until they score or turn the playing instrument over to the other team. For American Football, Camp gave the offense a set of “downs” and a distance to pursue to gain a new set of downs. In this system, no matter what happened on first down, the offense maintained possession. It was unlike any other sport (except baseball).
USA TODAY Sports Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images
Camp’s new rules made it three downs to achieve five yards. Is this where the “line to gain” comes in? Hold on, hold on - it’s a slow reveal, but be patient.
At the time, there were only three game officials. The head guy was called the referee just like today. That is a soccer and rugby term. The referee would place a white handkerchief down on the playing field after he had stepped off five yards. Then, one team’s offense would take their first down play and attempt to get beyond the handkerchief and a new set of downs was achieved, or they failed, and the other team took possession.
Yes, the obvious here is the usage of a flimsy piece of cloth, but it is what was used. The wind would become an issue, and so would unruly players who would attempt to move the white hanky either up or back to suit their needs. And to make things worse, fans were able to stand along both sidelines. Every spectator had a handkerchief in their pocket.
Camp came up with another idea. He invented the “line to gain” marker.
In Camp’s new game of American Football, teams now had to reach a point on the field that would enable them to maintain possession by gaining a certain number of yards and receiving a new set of downs. Which, in turn, moved their offense down the field closer to their opponent’s goal line.
In American Football, the “line to gain” was the point on the field where the offense must advance in order to get another set of downs.
A more exacting explanation may be this: The imaginary “line” in which a team may get a fresh set of downs is “to gain” five yards at this spot. Short version: “Line to gain.”
It is essentially the first down marker.
Camp fashioned a short, round rod that replaced the hanky and had someone hold it during games. After the referee would step off five yards, the person holding the rod would place it on the ground along the sideline parallel to the new spot marked off. When an offense would cross the “line to gain” marker, the rod would be moved to a new position, marking where the new first down was located.
The “line to gain” marker was the precursor to the chain crew.
At the time, this marker wasn’t standardized. Sometimes it was a round rod, painted or not painted. Oftentimes it was a piece of 2x4 lumber that somebody had at their home and brought just for this purpose. Tall, short, round, square, wood, metal, or a tree branch - they all served the same purpose.
The first playing fields were striped from sideline to sideline in 1882 in five-yard increments. Today, fields are still striped every five yards, but numbered yard markers only appear every 10 yards. Several college fields still paint numbers every five yards such as Tiger Stadium, home of the LSU Tigers.
Changes to the Game
When the forward pass became legal in 1906, it soon became too easy to gain five yards. On February 3, 1912, the U.S. college football rules committee rules were ratified to change from three downs to four, and from five yards to 10.
That same year, other changes shortened the playing field from the rugby size of 110 yards to 100 yards, removed the 20-yard maximum pass reception limitation to unlimited, and added 10-yard end zones.
RELATED: WHEN END ZONES WERE INVENTED
The new length to gain a first down required a new device.
A chain or rope was cut 10 yards long and attached to two poles. A third device was invented which is called “the box” which displays the down. The other two sticks measure the length to gain a first down. The “rear rod” marks where the new first down begins, and then the chain is stretched out taunt to which the “forward rod” marks where the next first down lay. We call this group the “chain crew” or the “chain gang.”
The “line to gain” marker and the “forward rod” are the same tool. Both show where the line is to obtain a first down which in turn gains a fresh set of downs.
Denver Broncos v San Diego Chargers Photo by Mark Junge/Getty Images
The first marker to display this aspect as the new sport of American Football was developing, was the “line to gain” marker. The chain crew replaced the need for the “line of gain” marker because it displayed a lot more information such as the original spot, what down each play is, and where the offense must travel in order to gain another first down.
If an offense advances the football to the “line to gain” in their set of downs, they are awarded an additional first down, keep possession, and are able to continue their drive.
In Camp’s description of the rules of college football in which the distance and down were changed, he described how a team can achieve a first down by reaching a “line to gain.”
Just like “snapper” is the authorized name for “center” and the “Annual Player Selection Meeting” is the endorsed moniker for the “NFL draft”, the “first down marker” is used more often but “line to gain” is the official name.
Even though this description has always been in the rule book, it is only recently that television commentators have been using it.
Term Brought to TV Audiences
The first usage is attributed to when Sportvision pioneered the yellow first down line that TV viewers could only see. This debuted on ESPN in 1998. Sportvision coined it the “line to gain a first down.”
Stan Honey Sportvision founder Stan Honey holding a football over a computer generated yellow line
Photo by John Storey/Getty Images
In the NFL Football Operations handbook, it states: “The line to gain is the spot 10 yards downfield from where the ball is spotted for an offense’s first down.”
In the NCAA rule book, it is listed under Rule 5: Series of downs/Line to gain.
The yellow line for the TV audience blew everybody away when it first came out. It remains one of the foundational enhancements that improve the viewing experience. A blue line followed which displayed the original line of scrimmage just like the “rear rod” does. Later, an arrow and a down/distance display can be seen on the screen.
The phrase “line to gain” is used by quite a few TV announcers and commentators today. Maybe you just didn’t notice.
The announcing team of John Madden and Pat Summerall were hired by FOX Sports beginning in the 1994 season. Once the Sportvision line was introduced four years later, the pair began using the term “line to gain” to explain the concept of the first down marker clearly to viewers. As the years rolled along, more commentators slowly picked up the jargon. If you have ever watched a telecast with Troy Aikman as the color analyst, he says “line to gain” every game.
By using the phrase “line to gain” consistently, TV announcers are able to assist viewers of the game in understanding the pivotal point on the playing field that determines if an offensive unit will get another chance to continue their drive.
In the 1880s, Walter Camp came up with “line to gain.” It took the technology of a fictious yellow line to bring that term into the public’s eye. And now, we are just learning to use the phrase Camp invented.