A Easy Guide to Understanding Football

It is fall, the air is scented with meat on the grill, and a waft of stale beer. Cars wave flags of their favorite football team, Revelers put on their teams colors and file into stadiums across the U.S. Yes, It is football season!

Politically Correct names aside, it is the all American sport. Generally speaking, it is known as a guys sport. Now ladies believe me when I say that I would never generalize and stereotype, for I am a football connoisseur, a nut, every man's dream really.

It all started as a young girl living in Washington DC, my family from New England was steadfast in their ritual of watching and playing the sport. My grandfather had season tickets to the team formerly known as the Redskins, and a football lover was born. Back in the day, RFK coliseum would erupt so loud, you could feel the ground shake and the crowd noise a mile away. The pandemonium hit a new level and grew even more when the Dallas Cowboys came to town. John Riggins, Joe Theismann, "the fun bunch", and "The Hogs"were on display for the world to see. Before this, the Steel Curtain in Pittsburgh reigned supreme, and the orange crush in Denver took down some of the best offenses. Legends were born. The knowledge I gained throughout my younger years would cement the love of the game and spurned ,years later, a secondary job in fantasy football.

As I gained this intellect, I devised a simplistic view to teach others about the game I loved. As a healthcare provider, I spent some time speaking to others, mostly men, that were awed by my understanding of the game. My colleagues who were not enamored of the sport , who were mostly female, were intrigued, and found they could understand the underpinnings of the game by equaling it to the human body.

The NFL forms a league, which is the umbrella over the American Football Conference ( AFC), and the National Football Conference ( NFC). Each has a North, South, West and East, with 4 teams on each . There is Pre-season, Regular season, consisting of 16 games, and Post-season or playoffs, that leads up to the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl has the best NFC and the best AFC team competing for the Lombardi Trophy Super Bowl championship. Then they all go to Disneyland and sing Kumbya.

The rules of the game are simple yet can be complex . The goal is for one team to get more points than the other team. This is done by getting the football, or pigskin, over the line of the end zone. This can be done by running across it, or receiving the ball in this zone, the end point, the touchdown. You have four times or "downs" to get ten yards. They have 25 seconds in between plays and after the ball is downed to huddle, send the play in and get set on the line of scrimmage. The football field is 100 yards from end zone to end zone. as the team goes down the field they use all the weapons in their play arsenal to continue going and score. If they do not get the football 10 yards in 4 downs, it is turned over to the other team, whether by punting it away, or trying for a field goal . If they do, they get another set of 4 downs. A touchdown, when a player with the ball gets in the end zone , is worth 6 points, the point after by the kicker makes 1 more for a total of 7. If they do not get into the end zone, they can elect to have the kicker kick as field goal, which gives them 3 points. This goes back and forth until the end of regulation, 4 quarters of 15 minutes each. Whomever leads at the end wins. If they are tied at the end of the fourth quarter, the game goes into overtime. Overtime is played 10 minutes, with each team getting a chance to either kick a field goal or score a touchdown. A tie can occur if no team scores.

The offense is the team with the ball, the defense tries to take the ball away or keep the runner or receiver from getting the ball, as well as try to intercept, or catch it instead of the receiver. The ball can also be fumbled, that is dropped after possession. Possession is garnered when a offensive player receives the ball and makes a football move, such as turning up field, and keeps the ball in his hands without it moving until his knee or elbow hits the ground. If it comes out before that it is considered a fumble and up for grabs from either team.

The art of football can be held synonymously with the human body. For every extremity, and some organs, the football player can be described.

The coach is the brain of the operation. With their coaching team, they make the plays for execution by the team. they send the messages out and work on routes and designed plays to meet thee goal, which is to score more points than the other team, that is get the football down the field to the end zone.

The quarterback is the heart of the team. He is the leader, the champion, the one who is charged with throwing the ball accurately, to the receivers, or hand off the ball to the running back, or fullback. The trend is to obtain tall, well built quarterbacks that are mobile, so they can run as well and score.

The receiver is the hands of the team. They run routes that have been designed in practice from the scrimmage line, where the ball is placed from the last play. The catch the ball and run towards the end zone.

The running back which can be called a tailback or fullback, is the feet of the team. He gets the ball handed off to him, or flipped back to him and he runs, weaving his way through the defense. He finds Holes or paths that the offensive line makes to get as many yards as possible before being tackled or downed.

The tight end is the legs of the team. He has a dual role, for he can block the defense from coming in to tackle the quarterback for a sack, (tackling of the quarterback when he still has the ball behind the scrimmage line) or receive the ball.

The offensive line is the ribs that protect the quarterback and other receiving players that can carry the ball. They cannot carry the ball unless they check in as eligible, because they normally do not carry or touch the ball normally.

The defense is the spine of the team. They try to get the ball from the offense, tackle and try to make sure the receivers do not catch the ball, or get those ten yards the offense needs to get another set of downs.

Special teams are the players for punt or kick returns. They are the internal organs. They block , they receive, and they run to get the ball as far into the field toward their goal- that end zone.

Now let us look at some of the things that coaches and player alike frankly hate, and that is penalties. Penalties are called by the people that are watching the players called referees. The referees give out a yellow flag for any infraction. Some normal penalties are offensive holding, where one of the offensive line ends up tackling or holding a player for longer than allowed, so he will not get to the quarterback. Pass interference is when a defensive or offensive player holds a arm or pushes off from a player, causing them to miss catching the ball. False start is when the offense moves before the ball is snapped. Roughing the Quarterback or the kicker is a cause for a 15 yard penalty, delay of game is when the ball does not get hiked by the center player to the quarterback before the clock runs out in between plays , this results in moving back 5 yards. Encroachment is when a player from the defense jumps over the line of scrimmage ( the neutral zone) before the ball is hiked. Off sides is when the players on either side line up over the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped or hiked, a neutral zone infraction is is when a player moves over the scrimmage line before the ball is snapped . If you have ever wondered why a football game takes so long, penalties are the reason.

The coaches have 2 challenges each, where they can throw the red flag, to have a replay and prove or disprove a call made by the referees. These usually come at crucial times. Each team has 3 time outs in each half, for a total of 6 for a regular game. If the game goes into overtime, there are 2 more time outs that can be taken.

All in all, football is game of quick decisions, athleticism, and tenacity. As a player you have to learn multiple schemes and plays. As a fan you have to have a heart for the team and bleed their colors, for it is the greatness of the individual plays and players that bring them to glory, and make the fan proud, in the history that is football.