A double pass is a trick play in American football. A double pass is a backward pass followed by a second pass thrown downfield. The play starts with the quarterback throwing backward pass, generally overhand, to an eligible player. That player then throws a forward pass downfield to a third player. A variation of the play has the second downfield pass caught by the quarterback, who leaks out after throwing the initial pass. This often works well, because of the likelihood of the player being uncovered, as normally quarterbacks rarely run pass patterns.