carry the ball

1. Take charge, advance a cause, as in In our lab any of the assistants can carry the ball. This usage comes from such sports as football, where the ball-carrying player gives the team yardage or a touchdown. By the early 1900s it was being transferred to other endeavors.

Example Sentences

But failure to take their chances, a hesitant attacking style – carry the ball to 10 metres out, then hope for the best – and regular individual errors in defence cost them dear.

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With his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname 'the Guernsey Grealish', a nod to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.

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“I might have to carry the ball some,” Riley quipped during NBC’s broadcast.

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When USC was without its top two backs for the Las Vegas Bowl in December, Jackson stepped in to carry the ball 16 times for 66 yards and a touchdown.

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Botterman's scrummaging has improved under Mitchell to earn a regular starting spot, but it is her ability to make turnovers and carry the ball into heavy traffic that are her foremost strengths.

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