Lambeau's Notre Dame Box offense not a simple scheme
Shifting, deception, individual strengths created varying roles for multiple backs
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The Notre Dame Box
The single wing’s major rival was the Notre Dame box. Several NFL teams used the formation at various times, most notably the Green Bay Packers. Their founder and coach, Curly Lambeau, learned the box while playing for Knute Rockne at South Bend in 1918 and the Packers used it exclusively throughout the 1920s and into the ‘30s.
Actually, the box was just one of three different formations that an offense could shift into after lining up in the T formation, but it was the most commonly used. It was similar to the single wing, but the line was balanced, so the strength of the formation was determined by how the backs shifted.
The Notre Dame system relied more on deception than power. The quick shift of the backs was designed to keep defenses off balance. Another element of deception was the way in which backs changed their positions within the formation.
For an end run, the team’s speediest player would shift into the tailback spot; for a pass play, the best passer would move there, while the speedy player went to wingback; for a power run, the player who was normally the fullback could move to tailback. Single wing teams were usually ineffective if they didn’t have a true triple-threat tailback, but the Notre Dame box didn’t have to rely on one multi-skilled player.
A couple of other things are worth noting about the Notre Dame system. First, Rockne was the first coach to split an end (he called it "flexing"). Other coaches generally believed in keeping linemen virtually shoulder to shoulder, but Rockne saw that having an end split (not far, only a yard or two) gave him a good blocking angle on the defensive end, and also made it possible for him to release quickly from the line of scrimmage to run a pass route. If the defensive end adjusted by moving out to stay opposite the offensive end, it opened up a natural hole outside the tackle.
Second, the quarterback in the Notre Dame box could take a direct snap from center (though not a hand-to-hand snap; it was a short, angled toss of a yard or so). This led to a series of plays very similar to modern T-formation plays, with the quarterback handling the snap and bringing the ball back to hand it off to the fullback or tailback. Most important, he could fake the ball to one or both backs and then throw it.
That was a much more effective way of passing than the single wing could offer, even with the rounder ball. The Packers threw the ball a lot for that era, and most of their passing was done by the quarterback, using what we now call play action.