Sometimes football can seem so simple: Throw the ball, catch the ball, kick the ball.
Then there are the moments when a fundamental goal of the game — run the ball into the end zone — is entangled by a morass of risk-aversion strategies and overcooked tactics that warp the game into a convoluted series of split-second decisions under pressure.
Faced with the real and perceived intricacies of a medley of choices, groups of players and coaches frequently read all the signals wrong and blunder badly. Sometimes it happens simply because no one on the field or the bench — except the referee — understands an obscure rule that proves pivotal.