Laterals.

Seattle @ Denver last night. Seattle was winning 23-20 and they were just about to kick off to the Broncos with no time left on the clock. The standard play for the Broncos in this situation is to receive the kick, and through a series of ill-fated laterals and cross-field passes, attempt to confuse the defense long enough to score. I'm not sure if this tactic ever works but I couldn't help but question whether any player in the NFL had ever seen a rugby match.

In rugby, the only types of legal passes must be lateral or backwards in direction. These are the same rules that apply on a kick-off in the NFL. However, no matter how often this situation occurs in the NFL, the ensuing play is always the same ridiculous and unsuccessful tangle of players. In rugby, the offense lines up as a diagonal line and attempts to get the ball from the front of the line to the back. The further along the line the ball gets, the more opportunity there is for space for the quicker runners at the end of the line.

Okay, some more explanation (for Scott). The black numbers are the offensive team and red numbers the defense. The triangles are the scrum. You can see that the backs are lined up diagonally, and the ball will start at number 9 (the scrum-half) and they will attempt to get it as far down the line as possible using one of the designated plays they have called. The defense tries to line up as flat as possible so that there are no gaps for the offense to run though. Number 15 is the fullback, the last line of defense.

Furthermore, blocking is legal in the NFL, whereas in rugby, an obstruction penalty would ensue. This is another advantage of using a standard rugby offense in the no-time-left-kickoff situation because the offense adds a layer of protection between the defense and themselves.

The final advantage to using this in the NFL is that the defense would have no idea how to defend it. The smallest variation in the "flatness" of the defensive line is extremely exploitable by an offense running this play. The defense would probably come using layers - players to occupy blockers, trying to create holes, moving as a pack, etc. There would be a huge opportunity for the offense to take advantage of the weakness of the defensive line, clearly resulting in a touchdown every time. So what gives?

Edit: Clarified diagram for you Scott...you are 50% of my audience after all.