rushing up, passing down

[Benjamin Zimmer]

I was looking at the play-play information for NFL games provided by
Yahoo! Sports and noticed they use a formula for representing rushing
and passing plays:

X passed to Y to the left/right for N yard gain/loss.
X rushed (to Y) to the left/right for N yard gain/loss.
X passed to Y down the middle for N yard gain/loss.
X rushed (to Y) up the middle for N yard gain/loss.

See, e.g.:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/boxscore?gid=20080112009&page=plays

Is the distinction between "rushing up the middle" and "passing down
the middle" one that is actually in use among commentators or
spectators?


--Ben Zimmer

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