Sport-Blog.com

by Leanne Phillips

Now that you know who all the people are down there on the football field, on the sidelines and in the stands, it's time to learn some basics about how the game is played.

The Object of the Game. A football field is 100 yards long. The object of the game of football is for the offense (the team that has possession of the football) to carry the ball, by whatever means possible, from the center of the field (the 50-yard line) for a distance of 50 feet, to the "end zone," that is, the end of the field, just beyond the zero yard line and just before the goal posts. The defense's job is try to prevent this from happening by defending the end zone. Each team takes turns playing offense and defense. During their turns playing offense, the teams earn points for accomplishing things such as "touchdowns," "extra points," and "field goals."

Quarters and Halves. A football game is divided into four quarters of play. Each quarter is 15 minutes long. However, football minutes are much like dog years. 15 minutes of football play is actually about 48.37 minutes in real world time. The teams take a break after the second quarter, called "half time." During half time, marching bands, cheerleaders and sometimes even popular singers perform and entertain the crowds, while the coaches yell at the football players in the locker room.

The Coin Toss and The Kickoff. Before play starts, the referee tosses a coin to decide who gets possession of the football first. The visiting team calls the coin toss. The team that wins the toss gets the first chance to try to score a touchdown. The team that loses the coin toss kicks the ball to the other team from their 30-yard line. This is done at the beginning of the game and at the beginning of the second half. It is also done each time the teams change possession of the ball, unless possession of the ball is changed because of an interception. Finally, if the game goes into overtime because there is a tie at the end of four quarters of play, overtime play starts with a kickoff.

Putting the Football Into Play. When play starts, the offensive team's center snaps the ball to the quarterback, who then attempts to throw or "pass" the ball to one of the offensive team's "wide receivers." It is the wide receiver's job to catch the ball. If possible, the wide receiver will then hand the ball off to a running back, who will run with the football as far as he can without being tackled by members of the other team's defense.

Passing and Running. Remember, the offense is trying to move the ball a distance of 50 yards to the end zone. They may attempt to do this using a "passing game," which means throwing the ball as far as they can, preferably to a wide receiver named Jerry Rice, in an attempt to move the ball or "gain" a certain number of yards. Or, they may attempt to do this using a "running game," which means the football is passed or handed off to a player who is good at running with the ball down the field as far as he can, called a running back.

Intercepting and Tackling. The defensive players will attempt to keep the offensive players from moving the ball down the field. If the ball is passed by the quarterback to a wide receiver, the defense may attempt to "intercept" the ball, which means they jump in front of the ball and catch it themselves, so that the ball becomes theirs. It is then their turn to try to move the ball down the field. Or, they may try to prevent the wide receiver from catching the ball by tackling him or otherwise interfering with the quarterback's ability to complete the pass. If they are unable to keep the wide receiver from catching the ball, or if the wide receiver is successful in handing the ball off to a running back, they may try to "tackle" the player with the ball. This basically means they knock him down to the ground and pile up on top of him until he can't breathe or yells "Uncle." Or, they may try to cause the wide receiver or the running back to lose control of the ball and "fumble" or drop the ball. (History lesson: This is where we get the phrase, "Wow, you really dropped the ball.") If the ball is fumbled, either team may grab the ball and run with it. If the offense gets the fumbled ball back into their possession, then they have "recovered the fumble." If the defense picks up the fumbled ball, then they can run as fast as they can in the other direction and may be able to score a touchdown for their own team.

Quarterback Scramble. Sometimes, in an attempt to trick the defensive team, or if his receiver is not "open" or in a position to catch the ball, the quarterback may try to run with the ball himself. This is called a quarterback scramble. When you see it, you will understand why it is called a quarterback scramble, because the quarterback basically scrambles around for a few minutes, is unsuccessful in actually getting anywhere, and then hurriedly drops to the ground on his own so the big, mean tackles won't jump on him. It is relatively rare for a quarterback to try to run with the ball for a number of reasons. First of all, quarterbacks need to move quickly and to be very mobile. In order to be able to do this, they don't wear as much padding as the other players and are relatively unprotected from injury. They risk being tackled and seriously hurt when they run with the ball, so they avoid doing so unless absolutely necessary. Second, quarterbacks are, if a team is lucky, very good at passing the football. They are not necessarily very good at doing much of anything else, however.

Quarterback Sack. When the defense is successful in tackling the quarterback before he can pass the football, this is called a "quarterback sack." It can be lots of fun to watch, particularly if the quarterback is wearing a Dallas Cowboys uniform and is named Drew Bledsoe.

Moving The Ball Down the Field. The team with possession of the football gets four chances, called "downs," to move the football down the field to the end zone. If they fail to do so within four attempts, play then passes to the other team. However, each time the offense is successful in moving the ball a minimum of ten yards, they get to start all over again, back at the first down. For example, if the offense did not get anywhere during the first down or the second down, but then, during the third down, the quarterback successfully throws a completed pass for a gain of 12 yards, then the offense gets to start all over again with the first down and, again, has four chances to move the ball to the end zone.

Touchdown! The goal of the team playing offense is to score a touchdown by getting the football into the "end zone," which is the area beyond the zero yard line on either end of the football field where the goal posts are located. The touchdown earns the offensive team six points. If their kicker is able to kick the ball in between the goal posts after a touchdown, this earns them another point, known as the "extra point." The kicker almost always makes the extra point, so it's not very exciting. If you act too excited when the kicker scores this point, unless the game is a close and important one, you risk revealing your naivete about the game.

Field Goals. Sometimes, despite their best efforts, a team is not quite able to score that much-sought-after touchdown. If they get close enough to the end zone, but don't think they will be able to score a touchdown, they may attempt a "field goal." A field goal is scored when, instead of attempting to pass or run the football, the offense brings their kicker in from the sidelines. The kicker then kicks the ball in between the goal posts. This may be relatively easy, or quite difficult, depending on how far the kicker is from the end zone. A field goal scores the team three points, which is not quite as good as a touchdown, but is better than nothing. History lesson: The longest field goal ever kicked in NFL history was 63 yards, first by Tom Dempsey in 1970, and again by Jason Elam nearly thirty years later in 1998. It's always good to know a little football trivia like this in order to hold up your end of the conversation during a football game. Just make sure you show off this knowledge at the appropriate time, preferably just after a field goal attempt. If you say it at the wrong time, such as during half-time or while the team is attempting a first down, you may be met with blank stares.

Copyright (c) 2005 by Leni Leanne Phillips