American Football Study Guide KIN 303

American Football Study Guide – KIN 303

HISTORY

The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football played in England/United Kingdom where the ball was kicked at a goal and/or run over a line. Many games known as "football" were being played at colleges and universities in the United States in the first half of the 19th century.

The early roots of football can be traced back to college campuses in the 1820’s when the game consisted mostly of kicking the ball back and forth. Early football games had few rules, the ball was often advanced by any means necessary; violence and injury were common. As a result, “football” was banned from many campuses.

In the 1850’s running was added to the game and as more formalized rules began to emerge, football returned to college campuses in the 1860’s. The first recognized intercollegiate “football” game took place between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869 although many of the modern rules had yet to be invented. For example, footballs of the time were round.

In 1880 Walter Camp (Yale University) added the down for distance requirement (10 yards in 4 downs), the line of scrimmage and the snap from center to quarterback. In 1905, the NCAA added the forward pass. Football continued to grow exponentially throughout the 20th country. Several early professional leagues formed, the two most successful being the American Football League and the National Football League. In 1967, the champions of the two leagues agreed to play in the AFL-NFL Championship Game, later renamed the Super Bowl. In 1970, the two leagues merged into the modern NFL. The Philadelphia Eagles began play in 1933 and are the NFL’s 7th oldest franchise.

RULES

Field and Players

A football field is 120 yards long including the end zones which are 10 years long each. Yard lines cross the field every 5 yards (not visible in picture) and are numbered every 10 yards from each goal line to the 50-yard line. Two rows of short lines, known hash marks, run at 1-yard intervals near the middle of the field. All plays start with the ball on or between the hash marks. If a play ends outside the hash marks, the next play begins on the hash mark to that side of the field. Because of the arrangement of the lines, the field is occasionally referred to as a gridiron. At the back of each end zone are two goalposts (also called uprights) connected by a crossbar 10 feet off the ground.

Each team has 11 players on the field at a time. Players have very specialized roles and are divided into three separate units: the offense, the defense and the special teams.

Advancing the Ball

The team that takes possession of the ball has four attempts, called downs, in which to advance the ball at least 10yards toward the defense's end zone. When the offense succeeds in gaining at least 10 yards, it gets a first down, meaning the team starts a new set of four downs to gain yet another 10 yards or to score. If the offense fails to gain a first down (10 yards) after four downs, the other team gets possession of the ball at the point where the fourth down ended, beginning with their first down to advance the ball in the opposite direction.

Except at the beginning of halves and after scores, the ball is always put into play by a snap. Offensive players line up facing defensive players at the line of scrimmage (the position on the field where the play begins). Players can then advance the ball in two ways:

§  By running with the ball, also known as rushing.

§  By throwing the ball to a teammate. The offense can throw the ball forward only once during a down and only from behind the line of scrimmage. However, the ball can be handed-off to another player or pitched/lateral-ed at any time anywhere on the field as often as possible.

A down ends, and the ball becomes dead, after any of the following:

§  The player with the ball is forced to the ground (a tackle)

§  A forward pass flies out of bounds or touches the ground before it is caught (incomplete pass). The ball is returned to the most recent line of scrimmage for the next down.

§  The ball or the player with the ball goes out of bounds.

§  A team scores

§  Officials blow a whistle to notify players that the down is over.

Change of possession

The offense maintains possession of the ball unless one of the following things occurs:

§  The team fails to get a first down— i.e., in four downs they fail to move the ball 10 yards

§  The offense scores a touchdown or field goal.

§  The offense punts the ball to the defense. A punt is a kick in which a player drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground. Punts are nearly always made on fourth down, when the offensive team does not want to risk giving up the ball to the other team at its current spot on the field and feels it is too far from the other team's goal posts to attempt a field goal.

§  A defensive player catches a forward pass, called an interception. The player who makes the interception can run with the ball until he is tackled, forced out of bounds, or scores.

§  An offensive player running the ball drops it (a fumble) and a defensive player picks it up. As with interceptions, a player recovering a fumble can run with the ball. Lost fumbles and interceptions are together known as turnovers.

§  The offensive team misses a field goal attempt.

§  An offensive ball carrier is tackled, forced out of bounds, loses the ball out of bounds, or the offense commits certain fouls in his own end zone. This fairly rare occurrence is called a safety.

Scoring

A team scores points by the following plays:

§  A touchdown (TD) is worth 6 points. It is scored when a player runs the ball into or catches a pass in his opponent's end zone.

o  After a touchdown, the scoring team may attempt to kick and extra point (1 point) or score again in the end zone, known as the two point conversion. The extra point and two-point conversion are both hiked 2.5 yards from the goal line.

§  A field goal (FG) is worth 3 points, and it is scored by kicking the ball over the crossbar and through the goal posts (uprights). A field goal is usually attempted on fourth down instead of a punt when the ball is close to the opponent's goal line.

§  A safety, worth 2 points, is scored typically when an offensive player is tackled in their own end zone.

Kickoffs and free kicks

Each half begins with a kickoff. Teams also kick off after scoring touchdowns and field goals. The ball is kicked using a kicking tee from the team's own 30-yard. The other team's kick returner tries to catch the ball and advance it as far as possible. Where he is stopped is the point where the offense will begin its drive, or series of offensive plays. If the kick returner catches the ball in his own end zone, he can either run with the ball, or elect for a touchback by kneeling in the end zone, in which case the receiving team then starts its offensive drive from its own 20 yard line.

PLAYERS AND FORMATIONS

This diagram shows typical offensive and defensive formations. The offense (red) consists of the quarterback (QB), fullback (FB), tailback (TB), wide receivers (WR), tight end (TE), and offensive linemen consisting of a center (C), a right and left offensive guard (OG) and a right and left offensive tackle (OT). The defense (blue) consists of the defensive line composed of defensive ends (DE) and defensive tackles (DT), linebackers (LB) ,cornerbacks (CB), and safeties (free safety; strong safety). Cornerbacks and safeties are collectively called defensive backs. Here the offense is in the Normal I-Formation while the defense is in a 4-3 (explained later)

Offense

§  The offensive line (OL) consists of five players whose job is to protect the passer and clear the way for runners by blocking members of the defense.

§  The quarterback (QB) receives the snap from the center on most plays. He then hands or tosses it to a running back, throws it to a receiver or runs with it himself.

§  Running backs (RB) line up behind or beside the QB and specialize in running with the ball. If a team has two running backs in the game, usually one will be a halfback (HB) (or tailback (TB)), who is more likely to run with the ball, and the other will usually be a fullback (FB), who is more likely to block.

§  Wide receivers (WR) line up near the sidelines. They specialize in catching passes, though they also block for running plays or downfield after another receiver makes a catch.

§  Tight ends (TE) line up outside the offensive line. They can either play like wide receivers (catch passes) or like offensive linemen (protect the QB or create spaces for runners).

Defense

§  The defensive line consists of three to six players who line up immediately across from the offensive line. They try to occupy the offensive linemen in order to free up the linebackers, disrupt the backfield (behind the offensive line) of the offense, and tackle the running back if he has the ball before he can gain yardage or the quarterback before he can throw or pass the ball. They are the first line of defense.

§  Behind the defensive line are the linebackers. They line up between the defensive line and defensive backs and may either rush the quarterback, stop the run, or cover potential receivers.

§  The last line of defense is known as the secondary, comprising at least three players who line up as defensive backs, who are either cornerbacks or safeties. They cover the receivers and try to stop pass completions. They occasionally rush the quarterback.

Penalties

Penalties are called for a violation of the rules, called a foul. Officials initially signal penalties by tossing a bright yellow colored "penalty flag" onto the field toward or at the spot of a foul. Most penalties result in moving the football toward the offending team's end zone, usually either 5, 10, or 15 yards depending on the penalty. Some penalties against the defensive team also result in giving the offense an automatic first down, while a few penalties against the offensive team cause them to automatically lose a down.

Some of the Most Frequent Penalties

STRATEGY & TACTICS

Because the game stops after every down, giving teams a chance to call a new play, strategy plays a major role in football. Each team has a playbook of dozens to hundreds of plays. Some plays are very safe; they are likely to get only a few yards. Other plays have the potential for long gains but at a greater risk of a loss of yardage or a turnover. Generally speaking, rushing plays are less risky than passing plays. However, there are relatively safe passing plays and risky running plays. To deceive the other team, some passing plays are designed to resemble running plays and vice versa. These are referred to as play-action passes and draws, respectively. There are many trick or gadget plays, such as when a team lines up as if it intends to punt and then tries to run or pass for a first down.