By :
Howard Becker
For those of you who want to learn football and join this craze called the NFL (National Football League), this is for you. Here are some football basics to get you started:
- An NFL team has 53 players; some play on Offense (unit that possession of the ball and is trying to score); some play on Defense (unit that attempts to stop its opponent’s Offense from scoring) and some play on Special Teams (units that are on the field for kickoffs, punts and field goals)
- At any given time, a team has 11 players on the field
The Offense attempts to advance the ball past its opponent's goal line and score touchdowns (worth 6 points) or move it into field goal range for its Kicker to attempt a field goal (worth 3 points)
There are two type of plays - passing and rushing (running)
- An Offense has four plays (downs) to advance the ball at least 10 yards; if it does so, it maintain possession of the ball; if it doesn’t, it may have to give up possession to its opponent
- The amount of time a team has possession of the ball throughout the game is called its “Time of possession”; the longer, the better. This is critical, because if you don’t have the ball, you can’t score!
- When a team loses possession of the ball to its opponent, through an interception (throwing a forward pass that an opponent catches) or fumble (when the ball carrier loses possession), it commits a “turnover”. Turnovers can be the difference between winning and losing. Each time a team commits a turnover, it gives itself one less and its opponent one more opportunity to score
- Each time it takes possession, a team starts a new drive. A drive is a succession of plays the Offense runs in an attempt to advance, or in other words, “drive” the ball down the field. A drive may be any number of plays; i.e., it may one play long, it may be fifteen plays long, etc. When a team starts a drive, it would ideally like to start in good starting field position
- The Offense has 40 seconds as designated by the play clock after the end of a play to snap the ball to start the next one. This includes the time it takes the players to get into their respective huddles, make any substitutions and get to the line of scrimmage to snap the ball. If the Offense does not start the next play within the 40 second time allotment, it is assessed a Delay of Game penalty. Play clocks are displayed at either end of the field above each end zone, so that they may easily be seen by both the players and the fans. If you are watching a game on TV, you may sometimes see the play clock winding down when it is getting close to “0”.
- Finally, when someone asks you the score of the game, remember to always say the name of the team that is winning or that has won first. For example, if the Bears are leading the Lions 14 - 10, say something like “The Bears are up fourteen to ten”, NOT “The Bears are winning ten to fourteen”. If the score is 10 - 0, say “It’s ten oh, Bears.” Notice the use of the word “oh”? If its 17 - 17, say “It’s seventeen all.” Notice the use of the word “all”?
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