A General Picture of American Football

American football is certainly one of the most confusing ball games. Starting from the four downs down to the most intricate details of the sport, anyone who was not born watching this game may probably take time to truly understand how it works. This article would provide very brief explanations on basic football rules.

Overview

Object of the game - The main goal in football is to score points, usually by way of a touchdown, by dominating the field as much as the team can. The team which has earned more points will certainly win the game.

Duration of the game - The entire game may last for up to 3 hours which consists of four 15-minute quarters, half time break, time-outs and clock stopping due to violations of the rules, incomplete passes and others.

Overtime - One of the things that significantly add to the duration of the game is the overtime. This happens when the score of both teams are tied at the end of the fourth quarter. Various leagues have different rules for overtime. For NFL, overtime or sudden death can take as much as 15 minutes. The first team to score during those 15 minutes wins.

Starting the game

Coin toss – To officially begin the game, captains from both teams will meet in the middle of the field for a toss coin. Whoever wins in the toss coin will get to choose who will receive the ball from a kickoff.

First downs - Each team at the beginning of the game will be given four attempts to advance ten yards. If the team who is on the offense has not covered ten yards at the end of the fourth down, they will have the option of “going for it”, meaning completing the fourth down, or by kicking the ball to cover as much distance as possible. The receivers near the end zones will then have to make a touchdown. Failure to do so will lead to yielding the ball to the other team.

Downed player - The ball carrier is downed if the following takes place:

Down by contact or by tackling
When the player falls down to the ground, usually by slipping
Intentionally downing the ball
When the runner walks over to the sidelines or when goes out of bounds
These result to the death of the ball.

Scoring

There are several types of scores in football. They are as follows

Touchdown – 6 points
Field goal – 3 points
Extra point attempt – 1 point
Two-point conversion – 2 points
Safety – 2 points
Fair catch kick – 3 points

Officials of the game

The Referee
The Umpire
The Head Linesman
The Line Judge
The Back Judge
The Field Judge
The Side Judge

Players

There are three units in each team namely offense, defense and special team.

Offense – Quarterback, Receiver, Running Back, Offensive Linemen
Defense – Defensive Linemen, Linebackers, Cornerbacks, Safeties
Special Team – Returner, Placekicker, Punter

Fouls and Penalties

Football has very strict rules and violation of each lead to penalties.

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