Glossary of American Football - H

H

Hail Mary

A long pass play, thrown towards a group of receivers near the end zone in hope of a touchdown. Used by a team as a last resort as time is running out in either of two halves (usually by a team trailing in the second half). Refers to the Catholic prayer. The term originated from Roger Staubach's comeback victory in which he threw such a pass to Drew Pearson to defeat the Minnesota Vikings in a divisional round playoff game in 1975.

halfback (HB)

A player position on offense. In American football, it is a type of running back; in Canadian football, it is a type of defensive back. Also known as a tailback.

halfback option play

A trick play in which the halfback has the option to either throw a pass or run with the ball.

halo violation

From 1983 until the end of the 2002 season, in the NCAA (college football) the halo rule was a foul for interference with the opportunity to catch a kick. The so called halo rule stated that no player of the kicking team may be within two yards of a receiving team player positioned to catch a punt or kickoff (before that person has touched the ball). The rule was abolished beginning in the 2003 season.

hand-off

A move in which a player transfers the ball to another player, and the receiving player takes possession of the ball before it leaves the hands of the giver (thus the ball is never in flight). A handoff can occur in any direction. Sometimes called a "switch" in touch football. (Note different usage of term from its rugby meaning.) Alternately spelled without the hyphen; i.e., handoff.

hands team

A group of players, mostly wide receivers, that are responsible for recovering an onside kick. They line up as close as possible to the ten-yard neutral zone and their goal is to recover the ball immediately after, but only if, the ball crosses out of the neutral zone.

hard count

A strategy commonly used by offenses to convert on fourth down and less than five yards to go. An offense will take the full time on the play clock with the quarterback utilizing an irregular, accented (thus, the term "hard") cadence for the snap count in the hope that the defense will jump offside, giving the offense the five yards needed to convert the first down. However, if the defense does not go offside, the offense will take a five-yard penalty for delay of game and punt the ball away.

hash marks

Lines between which the ball begins each play. The lines are parallel to and a distance in from the side lines and marked as broken lines. If a play is blown dead while the ball is between the hash marks, the ball is spotted where it is blown dead for the following play. If the play ends outside the hash marks, the ball is spotted at the nearer hash mark.

H-back

A player listed in a roster or depth chart as a fullback but with better athletic / pass-catching abilities and playing as a hybrid of a fullback and a tight end

hidden yardage

Yards based on the difference in starting field position between the teams and penalty yardage. These yards do not show up in the statistics as yards gained by an offense, hence the hidden part. This sometimes explains how a team with a significant advantage in yards gained loses the game since starting possessions deeper in a team's own territory on a regular basis means more yards need to be gained in order to score points and that teams that tend to commit many penalties will force the offense to gain more yards to score points or give the opposing offense free yards allowing them to score points with fewer yards needed.

hike

Synonym of "snap" - the handoff or pass from the center that begins a play from scrimmage.

holder

A player who holds the ball upright for a place kick. Often backup quarterbacks are used for their superior ball-handling ability and in the event of a bad snap requiring a pass play, or punters for their ability to catch long snaps.

holding

There are two kinds of holding:

Offensive holding, illegally blocking a player from the opposing team by grabbing and holding his uniform or body

Defensive holding, called against defensive players who hold offensive players, but who are not actively making an attempt to catch the ball (if the defensive player were to impede an offensive player in the act of catching the ball, that would be the more severe foul of pass interference)

home and away

A method of scheduling opponents, such that the two teams play one game at each team's home stadium. In college football, conferences such as the Big12, where a team does not play all the other teams each year, use a "home and away" schedule to play an opponent two years in a row and then rotate to another opponent. Teams also use this method to schedule non-conference opponents of roughly equal skill so that ticket revenue is split evenly. When scheduling teams of a lower calibre, the higher-rated team usually plays at home and provides a cash payout to the other team.

hook and lateral or hook and ladder

A trick play in which a receiver (usually a wide receiver) runs a hook pattern (i.e., moving toward the line of scrimmage to make a catch), and then laterals the ball to a second player (generally another receiver or a running back) going in a different direction. One of the most famous uses of this play was by Boise State in its epic 2007 Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma.

horse-collar

A horse-collar is a type of tackle made by grabbing the back-inside of an opponent's shoulder pads or jersey. This type of tackle was banned in the NFL in 2005 and in college football in 2008.

huddle

An on-field meeting of team members to communicate instructions for the upcoming play

hurry-up offense

An offensive strategy designed to gain as much yardage as possible while running as little time off the clock as possible. Often involves making plays without a huddle. This technique can also be used to keep the defensive team off-balance.