rushing up, passing down

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Jan 13, 2008 6:49 PM, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> I was looking at the play-play information for NFL games provided by

That should be "play-by-play", of course.

> 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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