{{short description|Gridiron football play}} [[File:Yost tackle over lhb.jpg|A run around right end|thumb]] In gridiron football, an '''end run''' is a running play in which the player carrying the ball tries to avoid being tackled by running outside the end (or flank) of the offensive line.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/end%20run|title=Definition of END RUN|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en|access-date=2017-06-23}}</ref> It is distinct from a dive, which is a run "up the middle", or an off-tackle run, which is a run through the inside gap created by the offensive tackle. Most option offenses are based on the end run.<ref name=def>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8hpvdraEnv0C&pg=PA132 ''Defensive Football Strategies'', pg. 132]</reF>
Colloquially, and in a metaphorical sense it has come to mean an attempt to avoid a difficult situation by dodging it without confronting it directly, or to attempt to circumvent someone's authority by appealing to a different authority.<ref name="obamabegging">{{cite news|url=http://www.themoralliberal.com/2013/01/16/obama-is-begging-for-impeachment/|title=Obama is Begging for Impeachment|first=Alan|last=Caruba|date=January 16, 2013|access-date=January 16, 2013|work=The Moral Liberal}} ("An end run around Congress.")</ref> For example, in ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', William Riker states: "You need to take it to the Captain, fine – through me. You do an end run around me again, I'll snap you back so hard you'll think you're a first-year cadet again."<ref name="sttng">[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708785/quotes IMDb - "Star Trek: The Next Generation" The Best of Both Worlds: Part 1] - ("You need to take it to the Captain, fine - through me. You do an end run around me again, I'll snap you back so hard you'll think you're a first-year cadet again.")</ref>
==Defensive strategy== thumb|right|200px|Clay White attempts an end run during a 1959 game. When faced with an opposing team using the end run, one requires three things to stop it: outside containment (from say a cornerback), defense of the cutback (from say a defensive end), and a safety (to defend the halfback pass).<ref name=def/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BSdFGxH0KJEC&pg=PA36|title=Arnsparger's Coaching Defensive Football|last=Arnsparger|first=Bill|date=1998-07-24|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9781574441628|language=en}}</ref> {{wikt|end run}}
==References== {{reflist}} {{Gridiron football plays}} Category:American football plays Category:Idioms {{American-football-stub}}