http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball

On any given Sunday.

Aeryn Sun: I'm sure your world has no force so ruthless, so disciplined.

John: Oh, we call 'em linebackers, or serial killers. Depends on whether they're professional or amateur. Farscape , "Exodus from Genesis" : I'm sure your world has no force so ruthless, so disciplined.: Oh, we call 'em linebackers, or serial killers. Depends on whether they're professional or amateur.

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American football is perhaps the most popular sport in America. This guide intends to inform you about America's favorite Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (and occasionally Tuesday and Wednesday) pastime. If you would like to know more about the sport's most historic and successful league, please check out the corresponding notes page. If you'd like to know more about college football, then please check out the corresponding notes page. And if, by some strange accident, you wound up here looking for info on that other sport called "football," this is probably the page you want.

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High school, college, and professional football

Alright, so first off, there are three major tiers of football: high-school football, college football, and professional football (the National Football League). High schools draw players from their general student bodies. During their senior years, especially talented high-school football players sign letters of intent to play for various college programs. This is known as National Signing Day, and is a big event for college television networks such as ESPNU. College players must be enrolled and take classes at the college in question; they can be granted scholarships but not directly paid. After their collegiate career is completed (and they've proven themselves on field), then they'll usually declare for the NFL Draft, which occurs early in April.

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High schools usually play football on Saturday afternoons or Friday evenings (hence Friday Night Lights) during the fall semester, and are governed by state-level athletic associations. They are divided into tiers based on school size and athletic program quality, and sometimes into regional divisions as well. There may be separate organizations for public and private schools, or they may all play together; there may be a statewide championship tournament or only regional titles within a state, with any championship game usually played at either the state's largest university stadium, a professional stadium or whichever adequately large stadium is most centrally located. There is no national high school football championship; there are altogether too many high schools for this to work, never mind added expense. Unofficial championships are given out by media organizations such as USA Today or sites devoted solely to high school sports via polling, but are subject to opinion. Despite high school football being organized on a state basis, there are sometimes individual cross-state games during a regular season, and a high school located near a state border might even have an established rivalry with a school in the neighboring state. There's even one pair of high schools in twin cities on opposite sides of a state border that not only have a rivalry, but share a stadium .note Graham High School and Bluefield High School, both in cities named Bluefield, respectively in Virginia and West Virginia. The stadium is in West Virginia, but is actually closer to the Graham campus. These are very much the exception, though, and can be complicated by the fact that different states have slight differences in the rules,note The main differences arise only if a game ends in a tiethe National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the body that sets the rules for US high school sports, including football, recommends but does not mandate a specific overtime procedure. States vary somewhat in how they operate overtime, mostly differing on where the teams begin their possessions. The outlier is Texas, which instead bases its high school football rules on the NCAA rule set. the fact that since play is organized on a state basis means that such games will have little/no impact on a season, and the legal/liability headache involved in carrying dozens of minors across state lines.

The most talented high school athletes are offered scholarships to play football at the various universities that play football. Unlike the other major American sports leagues, the NFL will not allow a player to participate in the Draft or sign with a team until he's been out of high school for at least three years (more in some cases) or earned a degree from a recognized university. As a result, college teams are the primary method of training and refining young players, and teenage hotshots are exceedingly rare.

There are numerous tiers of collegiate football in the United States, stretching across two organizations - the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the smaller National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) - with at least 5 recognized national championship systems. The top division of the NCAA is split into two separate subdivisions, called Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Generally, the term 'college football' in the United States refers to teams in the FBS, which is the highest tier.

The FBS is split into numerous 'conferences' which are equivalent to leagues in their own right, crowning their own champions. These are subdivided into two types:

"Power Five" or "Big Five"  The richest and most competitive leaguesthe Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 (not "Pacific-12"), and Southeastern Conference (SEC). The University of Notre Dame is also counted among the "Power Five". note Although it is not a member of any football conference, it is an ACC member in other sports, and has an agreement to play at least five of its 12 regular-season games against other ACC schools. These conferences receive automatic spots in the so-called "New Year's Six", the top tier of bowl games that includes the two semifinal games of the College Football Playoff (CFP) that began in 2014. Notre Dame does not have an automatic spot in any "New Year's Six" game, but does get special consideration (namely, when it doesn't make a semifinal, it's part of the shortlist for one of the other three or four games, depending on the season).

These conferences receive automatic spots in the so-called "New Year's Six", the top tier of bowl games that includes the two semifinal games of the College Football Playoff (CFP) that began in 2014. Notre Dame does not have an automatic spot in any "New Year's Six" game, but does get special consideration (namely, when it doesn't make a semifinal, it's part of the shortlist for one of the other three or four games, depending on the season). "Group of Five" (also called "mid-majors")  The other five FBS conferences: the American Athletic Conference (The American), Conference USA (C-USA), Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West (MW), and Sun Belt. The other six independents (Army, BYU, Liberty, New Mexico State, UConn, UMass) also fall in this group, although the first two are sometimes counted as Power Five teams for the purposes of Power Five conferences that insist all of their schools have at least one Power Five nonconference opponent. The American would have you believe that they are a Power Six conference. note Under the BCS format that preceded the CFP, there were six power conferences and the American is the successor of the sixth of those conferences, the original Big East.

The CFP is a four-team tournament whose participants are chosen by a 13-member selection committee (oddly, twice as large as the one that selects the 68-team playoff for college men's basketball). It and the rest of the "New Year's Six" replaced the former Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which operated from 1998 to 2013. Six bowl games rotate CFP semifinal games on a three-year cycle, with the following pairings: Rose Bowl/Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl/Cotton Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl/Peach Bowl.

In seasons when a "New Year's Six" game is not hosting a national semifinal game, the highest-ranked teams not involved in the CFP will go to the following bowls:

The top Big 12 and SEC teams go to the Sugar Bowl. note In the BCS era, the Big 12 was tied to the Fiesta Bowl. The SEC has a decades-long link with the Sugar Bowl.

The top ACC team goes to the Orange Bowl. The second Orange Bowl berth will go the second-best available team from the SEC or Big Ten, or Notre Dame.

The top Big 10 and Pac-12 teams go to the most prestigious regular bowl, the Rose Bowl.

The participants in the other three games (Cotton, Fiesta, Peach) are based on rankings by the CFP selection committee. One spot in these games is reserved for the highest-ranked champion of a Group of Five conference.

The final CFP game is the College Football Playoff National Championship, featuring the winners of the two semifinal games, whose winner is declared national champion by everyone... except the NCAA itself. Even though the NCAA lists claimed football national championships in its record books, it has never awarded an official national championship in FBS or its predecessors. Since the TV deal has been signed through the 2025 season, it will be a while until the possibility of expanding the playoff to 8 or 16 teams is considered.

In terms of TV, a football game equals guaranteed high ratings. Any professional football game is almost guaranteed to be the most-watched program of the day, and the Super Bowl almost always is the most-watched program of the year. Several Super Bowls are among the highest-rated programs of all time, and Super Bowl XLIV unseated the series finale of M*A*S*H as the most-watched program in American history.note ...and was itself unseated by Super Bowl XLV the following year.

But enough organizational stuff. Here's the rules and positions.

Rules of play

As weird as American football might seem to foreigners, it is firmly within the same tradition as other football variants, and actually originates from a hybrid of Association and Rugby codes . A very good way of understanding American football is actually to think of Soccer and Rugby and then ask "what if we tried to solve for the offside rule ?" The key innovation of American football is the idea of the "line of scrimmage" and the associated concept of the "down". That is, rather than free-floating exchanges of possession (as occurs in soccer), there is a team on "offense" with the ball, and one on "defense" without it, with a specific line clearly separating "onside" from "offside." The rest follows from there. But let's get the basics down before that, shall we?

The Field

note

A yard is exactly .9144 meters for you metric folks

note

Which makes a little more sense when you know that's 160 feet. Its also 48.7 meters.

Football is played on a rectangular field of 120 yardsin length (marked by end lines) and 53.3 yardsin width (marked by sidelines). Obviously, anything happening outside of this boxed area is considered to be out-of-bounds. Less obviously, and in contrast to association football/soccer but in common with both Rugby codes, on the line is out of bounds, for both players and (should it be on the ground) the ball.

The first 10 yards of field measured from either end line are the end zones, their boundaries marked by goal lines. These are the primary scoring areas during a game, and are legally in-bounds for plays.

The remaining 100 yards of the field is divided like a giant ruler by various markings:

Yard lines run the entire width of the field. Yard lines are placed in 5-yard increments.

Each 10 yard mark is visibly numbered up to the 50-yard line, which denotes the middle of the field.

Smaller rows of 2' long markings known as hash marks are placed just inside the sidelines to denote each individual yard on the field for more precise measuring.

A second set of hash marks also appears further inside each sideline to denote the area of the field where the ball can be placed before play commences. note The distance from the sideline to the nearest set of hashmarks differs according to the level of play. In high school football, the distance is exactly 53 feet, 4 inches, which means that the hash marks divide the field into thirds. In college football, the distance is 60 feet. In the NFL, the distance is exactly 70 feet, 9 inches; putting it another way, the hash marks are precisely in line with the goal posts.

Since all of these field markings tend to create a lattice-like appearance, a football field is colloquially known as the "Gridiron".note In the early years of American football, the field was marked into small rectangles, making the "gridiron" analogy even more apparent. See this diagram ◊ , copied from a 1905 book on the sport.

Finally, the goalposts, upright goals that figure into certain scoring plays described below, are placed on the end lines at the back of each end zone. On the professional level, the goal posts are 18 feet 6 inches (5.64 m) apart and connected by a lower crossbar that stands 10 feet (3.05 m) off the ground.

Plays and play styles

The fundamental unit of football is the "play": particular pre-planned and practiced strategic formations and drills designed to counter defensive strategies or exploit a particular situation or team strength. It is impossible within this article to cover the sheer variety of possible strategies, but on offense the basics break down to three fairly simple categories: run, pass, and kick

Running plays involve the quarterback running or delivering the ball to one of the five eligible receivers without throwing the ball forward, with the intent to move the ball forward.

Passing plays involve the quarterback throwing forward to one of the five eligible receivers. Note that a forward pass can be caught behind the line of scrimmage as long as the ball moved forward from the passer's current position, and that a handoff or pitch can be completed in front of the line of scrimmage as long as the ball moves laterally or backwards. Attempting to throw or hand the ball forward from beyond the line of scrimmage is illegal, as is throwing the ball forward more than once per down, or the defense throwing the ball forward for any reason note In the 2020 incarnation of the XFL, two forward passes are allowed so long as the first forward pass is behind the line of scrimmage; otherwise, the normal rules regarding forward passes apply. Backward and lateral passes, however, are always legal.

Backward and lateral passes, however, are always legal. Kicking, discussed further below, is typically a last resort option, as it always ends a team's possession of the ball, barring a fluke mistake by the opposing team allowing the ball to be recovered.

Downs

When a team has the ball they are given four attempts, called "downs", to move the ball ten yards towards the end zone (goal) they're facing. If that team can do so, then they get a "first down" - they replenish their four downs to move the ball another ten yards. As long as a team retains possession of the ball, and moves it another 10 yards within the four down limit each time, they may continue to ratchet their way across the field for as long as it takes to reach the other side.

When watching a game, the term "First and 10" indicates the offense team has just gotten a first down, and thus they have 10 yards to gain before their next down reset. The First Down line is always based on 10 yards closer to the goal from where the line of scrimmage was at the current (or last) first down. If, say, the defense team manages a sack that pushes the line back five yards, you'll see the term "Second and 15," indicating the offense is on their second down, and they have to move the ball 15 or more yards to reset their downs. If the team is close enough that 10 yards would put them in the end zone, then the team cannot reset their downs anymore - they have to score within those four downs. This is signified by the word Goal replacing the 10, such as "First and Goal."

If at any time they fail to move the ball 10 yards forward within their four downs, the other team gets possession of the ball, starting from the spot the last down ended at. If the offense reaches their fourth down, they have three options:

The quarterback may kick the ball as far downfield as possible (called a "punt") so that the opposing team will have further to travel in order to score on their ensuing possession. (The players doing the actual punting, while technically the quarterback on the play, are often a specialist called the punter, especially at higher levels. However, some players - including still active players in the NFL - do sometimes punt and sometimes throw passes, example Ben Roethlisberger, starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2004, has kicked a couple of punts, mostly on third down to catch the defense off-guard. Most of the time on third down and too long to make a new first down a low risk run will be called to give the punter more room, sometimes high risk passes to achieve the first down will be attempted. So nobody is going to be prepared for a punt, so a halfway decent punter can pin the opposing side down deep in their own territory mostly as a "trick play" that works mostly because it is so rare.) Once the opposing team receives the ball, they are on offense and their first line of scrimmage is where the ball stops after the punt play is over.

mostly as a "trick play" that works mostly because it is so rare.) Once the opposing team receives the ball, they are on offense and their first line of scrimmage is where the ball stops after the punt play is over. The team may also elect to attempt a field goal if they are within range to do so. A field goal is when the quarterback (again, usually a specialist kicker swapped-in rather than the first-string quarterback) kicks the ball between the two upright arms, and above the crossbar, of the defense's goal post. Since this scores points for the team, this ends the offense team's possession and leads to another kickoff with the opposing team receiving and taking possession of the ball.

Finally, the team also has the option of attempting to gain the necessary yardage on the fourth down. This is known as "going for it." However, as this risks the other team gaining an advantage if you fail, it's usually not done unless the situation is especially desperate, or the team feels like tempting fate.

In rare cases, a team will elect to Take The Fourth Option, and run a Kansas City Shuffle style play. This is where football begins to show its strategic elements and deep Meta Game. For instance, the kicker may be brought on and the kicking formation taken, leading the opposing team to swap in players suited for receiving the ball rather than defending...only for the quarterback to then attempt to force the ball through the opposing team's weakened and scattered defense anticipating a ball falling from the sky in the backfield, not running on the ground through them. A quarterback who is also good at kicking may fake going for it, only to punt a few steps into a run. This is referred to as a "pooch punt". A kicker who also plays another offensive position can be an extreme wild card, allowing a true, deep field kick to be snuck in at any time with a little subtle shifting of formation. These players are rare however; as a general rule kickers tend to be Glass Cannons with Crippling Overspecialization in kicking the ball really far- thus making this even more of a Mind Screw for the opposing team when it happens.



The Clock

The game clock in football is an interesting object unto itself, with arcane rules governing the stopping and starting of counted time. Suffice it to say that "clock management" is a vital part of football strategy, and that a good coach will employ truly Munchkin-worthy MetaGaming to bend these time warping powers to their advantage.

If a play ends on an incomplete pass, with a player running out of bounds, a penalty, a score, or a turnover, the clock will stop. If a play ends with a player being tackled inbounds, then the clock continues running. Each team also gets three timeouts per half. There are other times the game clock will stop, depending on level of competition, sanctioning body, and television considerations, but they are too numerous and complicated to explain here. There are numerous ways that teams will try to run off as much clock time as they can when they hold the lead or conversely stop the clock to get more time if they are behind.

To add to the complexity, there is also a "play clock" in effect, the offensive team has a set amount of time after their last play has ended to start their next one. On the professional level, teams have 40 seconds timed from the end of the previous play, or 25 seconds after the ball is declared ready for play by officials. Letting the play clock run out will result in a delay of game penalty... which stops the main clock.

This is why American football games, even though they only have an hour of play per game, tend to actually last for 2-3 hours.

Some football leagues, such as the Arena Football League (now defunct) and the 2020 incarnation of the XFL, use a "running clock" rule, meaning the clock continuously runs after out-of-bounds plays and incomplete passes. Outside of the n-minute warningnote Historically one minute in the AFL and two in the XFL of each half, the clock only stops for change of possession and time-outs. At the high school level and below, a running clock may be implemented as a "mercy rule" when one team attains a percieved insurmountable lead, typically between 30 to 40 points after halftime. A mercy rule can also be implemented at the college level in lopsided games, typically in non-conference games between a Top 25 P5 team and either a G5 FBS or FCS team; however, college football uses shortened quarters with normal timing rules.

Scoring

The typical ways to score are (see the terms section below for further details)

Touchdown: The primary form of scoring in football. Occurs when a team advances the ball beyond its opponent's goal line. They are worth 6 points. The ball itself only has to partially pass over a yard mark or goal line while in the possession of a player to be counted; this is referred to as the ball 'breaking the plane' of the line in question. As a general rule: forward advancement is marked where the ball is located, whereas determining play laterally is based on the body of the player possessing the ball. A player doesn't have to be in the end zone at all for a touchdown, just in possession of the ball as it's breaking the plane of the goal line. note In contrast, however, a player is out of bounds once he steps over a marked sideline, regardless of where the ball was located.

Conversion: After scoring a touchdown, a team receives one additional, untimed down in which they can attempt to score at one-third the normal value. This is formally known as a "try" (though the term is exceedingly rarely used), and a successful score is known as "converting the try", or just a "conversion". The ball is placed two or three yards from the defending team's goal line and the scoring team attempts one of two possible plays: P oint A fter T ouchdown, or PAT: Attempt a placekick or dropkick note dropping the ball to the ground and kicking it after it has touched the ground, but don't be surprised if you've never seen a dropkick PAT attempted; the technique fell into disuse decades ago, though Doug Flutie did successfully use one on a PAT in his final NFL game in 2006. through the upright goal at the back of the end zone for one extra point. As such, it's often simply called "the extra point". The defense will attempt to block the PAT kick, but it is extremely difficult to do so. It is also possible for the kicker to miss the PAT, but due to the very short range required, this is likewise infrequent. Teams will opt for a PAT kick the vast majority of the time, thus a "touchdown" usually entails scoring 7 points total. Over the years, the PAT has become such a matter of routine that attempts have been made on the organizational level to increase the difficulty. In 2015, the NFL moved the line of scrimmage for kick attempts to the 15-yard line (among other things, making blocks more likely), and in the first season of the change, the league's success rate dropped from over 99% to a hair over 94%. That may not sound like a big changebut the last time the success rate on PAT kicks was this low was in 1982. Additionally, blocked attempts are now live balls, allowing more scoring possibilities. See below. Two-point conversion: Make a single offensive play 3 yards away (2 yards in NFL) from the end zone. Reaching the end zone gives another two points (for a total of 8). In the event of a turnover, the play ends in high school football, except in Texas, where the base rule set is that of the NCAA (college). note Massachusetts also based its high school rules on the NCAA set through the 2018 season, but now uses standard high school rules. In college, and since the 2015 season the NFL as well, the defender can score two points for his team if he carries it ALL the way back to the other end zone. Very rareit requires a fumble or an interception followed by a roughly 100-yard dash, carrying the ball with 11 angry men in pursuit. Although some teams have very high two-point conversion success rates, the general success rate is 40-55%, compared to the PAT's success rate of 98-99% in college and 95% in the NFL. As a result, teams rarely try for a two-point conversion, unless they are coming back from a large deficit, they can gain some strategic advantage late in the game, or they want to go for a win in regulation. At the high school level and below, the two-point conversion is more common, because some teams simply don't have anybody who can kick with even marginal accuracy. It's basically unheard of for any college team, and completely unheard of for any professional team, to lack a kicker who can reliably kick the PAT. With blocked PAT attempts now being live in the NFL, it's possible for a fouled up kick attempt to be turned into a 2-point conversion if the blocked ball is recovered by the kicking team, or run back for by the defense for 2 points like a turnover. The Alliance of American Football, a minor professional league that began and ended play in 2019, prohibited kicked conversions. Two-point conversion attempts were required after any touchdown. Both incarnations of the XFL also prohibited kicked conversions. Instead, the XFL used a three-tiered system, where a conversion scored from the two-yard line is worth one point, a five-yard conversion is worth two points, and a ten-yard conversion is worth three points. The original XFL only used this in the postseason, whereas the 2020 XFL used it from day one.

Field Goal: Kick the ball through the upright goal placed past the opponent's end-zone for 3 points. Used instead of a punt if the team thinks they're close enough to make it (or desperate). note The longest successful Field Goal in professional football is 64 yards, by Matt Prater of the Denver Broncos. This is generally considered outside the range of the average kicker, making it quite a feat. Like a PAT kick, the defense will contest the kick (attempt to block it), and it can be caught on the fly or recovered like a live fumble if it is blocked backwards at the line of scrimmage. Unlike a punt, a missed field goal gives the opponents the ball from the spot of the kick, making it risky at long range. Another consideration is that long field goals that don't leave the field of play can be returned like punts. Perhaps the most famous recent example of this was Auburn's walk-off touchdown in the 2013 Iron Bowl (AlabamaAuburn rivalry game). Despite the risk, some teams will still focus their entire strategy around simply getting their kicker in range as quickly and as often as possible while preventing their opponent from scoring touchdowns, with any touchdowns of their own being welcome surprises. This can be an extremely hard to counter strategy with a well assembled team, but can quickly fall apart if the kicker is having an off day. Although exceedingly rare, it is also possible to score a field goal during any play by dropkick as well. Due to football's rules of possession, however, it is generally tactically unsound to use this technique. Additionally, the shape of the ball itself makes this much more difficult than in rugby where the drop kick rules originated. There has been only one successful drop kick in the NFL since World War IIlongtime CFL and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie successfully drop-kicked a conversion in his final NFL game in 2006. Also exceedingly rare, a field goal can be opted for from the spot of a fair catch on a punt, which is called a "fair catch kick". Line-up rules are similar to a "free kick" (see safety below), but someone can hold the ball like a field goal or PAT attempt. This rule exists in the NFL (where it hasn't succeeded since 1976, and has only been attempted eight times since then) and high school, but not in college. The ball can touch any part of the 2 uprights and lower crossbar that form the goalpost on a field goal kick, as long as it passes over and through them before hitting the ground. This has led to several improbable heart-stopping situations where a kicked ball has the range to reach the goal, but due to its shape and unpredictable bouncing tendencies, will carom off one, two, or all three of the bars before it manages to go through or fall out unscored.

Like a PAT kick, the defense will contest the kick (attempt to block it), and it can be caught on the fly or recovered like a live fumble if it is blocked backwards at the line of scrimmage. Unlike a punt, a missed field goal gives the opponents the ball from the spot of the kick, making it risky at long range. Another consideration is that long field goals that don't leave the field of play can be returned like punts. Perhaps the most famous recent example of this was Auburn's walk-off touchdown in the 2013 Iron Bowl (AlabamaAuburn rivalry game). Despite the risk, some teams will still focus their entire strategy around simply getting their kicker in range as quickly and as often as possible while preventing their opponent from scoring touchdowns, with any touchdowns of their own being welcome surprises. This can be an extremely hard to counter strategy with a well assembled team, but can quickly fall apart if the kicker is having an off day. Safety: A somewhat rare but humiliating situation where an offensive player has possession of the ball in his own end zone and is either tackled, steps out-of-bounds, accidentally or purposefully hikes the ball past the back line of the end zone (this happened to Peyton Manning when his center snapped the ball too high on the opening play of Super Bowl XLVIII), or another offensive player commits a penalty while trying to prevent either from happening. The defensive team scores 2 points and gets the ball (the safetied team kicks the ball to them). This situation is technically called a "free kick", as is the kickoff after a touchdown or field goal. However, the free kick following a safety has one major difference from other free kicks: After a touchdown or field goal, the ball must be kicked off a tee (sometimes, if winds are high enough, another player will have to hold the ball on the tee). After a safety, the kicker may either kick from a tee or punt, beginning with the ball in his handsexcept in the Alliance of American Football, which had no kickoffs. In that league, the scoring team got the ball on its own 25-yard line unless the other team attempted an onside conversion (see the "Special teams-related terms" folder below). Most free kicks after safeties are punts because their higher trajectory allows better coverage for the kicking team. note For fans of soccer, this is basically the same thing as an own goal, only not quite as humiliating. Except when it's an accidental safety (as in an inattentive quarterback steps out of bounds in the end zone on his own rather than being tackled or forced out by the defense). Dan Orlovsky infamously did this while playing for the Detroit Lions in their 0-16 2008 season, in a game that was ultimately lost by 2 points. That is as humiliating as an own goal. In certain rare situations, a team may intentionally allow a safety to be scored. This may be done for a variety of reasons: To gain field position (by kicking off from the 20-yard line rather than punting from the end zone), To manage the game clock (by running out the last few seconds of the game, as happened in Super Bowl XLVII), or To prevent something worse from happening (the offense loses control of the ball in its own end zone, then downs the ball or swats it out of bounds to prevent the defense from taking possession and scoring a touchdown) However, safeties are more often the result of an offensive failure or a player getting confused and running the wrong way with the ball. Only a few safeties are seen each season, and intentional safeties only occur once every few years; they are far more common in Canadian football, where field position is more important (since in Canadian ball a team gets three downs rather than four and many more points are scored in general). Then there's the extremely strange one-point safety . This is possible if a team tries for a two point conversion, drops the ball and the defending team knocks the ball out of the end zone (presumably to prevent the offense from picking up the ball in the end-zone for two points). It's also possible if the defending team blocks a PAT, recovers it, and then either fumbles through the end zone or gets tackled after backing up into it. This has happened twice in Division I play, the most recent time (the 2013 Fiesta Bowl) resulting in the referee beginning his announcement of the result with "On the previous play, we have an unusual ruling," correctly judging that he was one of the few people familiar with the rule. This became possible in the NFL only in 2015. It is also now theoretically possible for a the kicking team to give up a safety for one point as well, but such a play would require an extremely unlikely set of circumstances, such as a blocked PAT being recovered by the defense, run back to near the opposing end zone, only for a fumble to happen, then be recovered by the kicking team, only for the kicking team player to be tackled in their own end zone. This is the only way (except for a forfeit) for a team to have a total score of 1 point, as all other plays worth one point award the point to a team that has already scored a touchdown.

In the very, very rare event of a forfeit where the game is never played, the score is officially 2-0.

Quarters and overtime

The length of quarters and overtime format differ depending on level, but typically a football game consists of four 15-minute quarters with an option for overtime if both teams are tied at the end of regulation. College overtime rules, already complicated, got even more so for 2019. Overtime at that level starts with the teams taking turns having possessions from the opponent's 25-yard line (with standard down-and-distance rules); if one team is ahead after both have had a possession, they win, otherwise they take another set of turns. If the overtime goes to a third or fourth set of possessions, a team that scores a touchdown must attempt a two-point conversion (unless, of course, the TD gave that team the win). For 2019 and beyond, all overtime procedures starting with the fifth consist of two-point conversion attempts, and are scored as such. College overtime rules were borrowed from high school rules, which recommend (but do not require) the NCAA's original 1996 version of this procedure (straight-up possessions, with no requirement for two-point conversion attempts; the NCAA added the two-point requirement in 1997); most states have teams start possessions at the opponent's 10. The Alliance of American Football had the teams alternate possessions from the opponent's 10, but only one set of turns was used except in playoff games, which they wound up never playing. In the NFL, overtime is a 10-minute period in preseason and regular-season games, and 15 minutes in the playoffs. (Before the 2017 season, the overtime period was 15 minutes in all games.) Overtime always begins with another coin toss. The first team to score wins the game; the exception is that if the first team to get the ball only gets a field goal, the other team gets one possession to keep the game tied or take the lead, or else they lose. Excepting playoff games, a tie is possible if the score remains tied at the end of overtime, but this is rare, happening about once a season. Before the 2012 season added the "first-possession field goal doesn't win" rule to regular-season games (it had previously been added in the 2010 season for postseason games), it was even rarer; the last two tied games before the rule change had a six-year gap between them, and because of the rules differences between NFL and college, even some of the players didn't know a tie game was possible. In the Arena Football League, NFL Europa and the United Football League (all defunct), both teams were guaranteed one offensive possession, even if Team A scores a touchdown on their first possessionnote However, if Team B gets a defensive score on Team A's first possession, the game ends.[/note]]; if the score remained tied after each team had its initial possession, overtime then went to pure sudden death. In the 2020 incarnation of the XFL, teams attempted 2-point conversions from the 5-yard line in a 5-round shootout format, similar to hockey or soccer; if the score remained tied after 5 rounds, subsequent rounds were played until the tie was broken. The original XFL used a modified version NCAA overtime rules, where teams started 1st and goal from the 20-yard line and could not kick a field goal until 4th down; if Team A scored a touchdown in less than four downs, then Team B had to score within the same number of downs, negating the supposed advantage of going second.

When games are broadcast on television, a 3-hour block of time is customarily allocated to allow for the various delays. Sometimes, when a game is particularly hard-fought, and especially when one team is trying to slow down the game clock as much as possible to buy time, the game can even run over 3 hours in "regulation" (the basic 60-minute period). This can occasionally cause problems when the game is broadcast on TV; in one infamous incident in 1968, NBC cut away from an American Football League rivalry game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets at the end of the three-hour block to run a children's movie (Heidi), notwithstanding that the game was still in progress.[[note]] Today this sounds like a stupid reason to pre-empt a football game, but it was a different time. Football was still something of a niche sport, while Heidi was a major ratings draw for NBC. The network aired Heidi just once a year; since there were three networks and no such thing as home video, families had planned their evening around the film, because this was their only chance to see it all year. The Raiders scored two touchdowns in the final minute to earn the victory, but viewers in the eastern half of the country were left in the dark. The resulting uproar from enraged football fans, which would put many instances of internet drama to shame, resulted in new policies being adopted. Nowadays, a network will never cut away from a game before it is finished. Unless a major breaking-news event like an assassination or a war beginning happens, TV viewers will see the entire game. (We've since learned that fans watching the "Heidi Game", anticipating that the game could be interrupted, called NBC en masse before the movie was due to start. NBC executives felt likewise and made a late decision to postpone the film, but couldn't contact the broadcast control room to deliver their orders because fans had jammed the phone lines.)

Positions and formations

The intricate system of player positions and play formations are the heart of football's deceptive complexity. The closest equivalent it has in any other game are the rules for unit deployment in your typical Warhammer 40k style

Each football team consists of anywhere from 40 to 80 players, depending on the level of competition. At any given time, 11 of these players are on the field. The team that is trying to score is the offense. The team that is trying to keep the offense from scoring is the defense. Unlike some other sports, American football allows players to be substituted in and out of the game freely, but only between plays. Additionally, all possible position types do not need to be, and in fact cannot be, filled at all times. This means that most players play only on offense or only on defense and some may only see a handful of special-situation plays per game.

Here's a breakdown of each position

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Offense

Quarterback: This player will touch the ball on nearly every offensive play. The role of the quarterback is to pass the ball down the field or hand off the ball to an eligible receiver. Occasionally, the quarterback will run with the ball himself; some offensive systems use quarterback runs more than others, and John Elway, Steve Young, Michael Vick, and Lamar Jackson have been known for this. The mobile quarterback has become more prevalent in the NFL in recent years, but has been a staple of the high school and college game for decades. At the beginning of the play, the quarterback stands either directly under (behind) the center (a quarter of the way back from the offensive line, relative to the rest of the formation, hence the name quarterback), or seven yards behind the center. The latter formation is called "shotgun". A variation of the shotgun formation where the quarterback lines up 4 yards from the center and a running back is directly behind him is called the "pistol". As a result of nearly always being the preeminent decision-making player on a team's offense (the recent "Wildcat" formation notwithstanding), a quarterback is usually considered The Ace in the popular consciousness, and QBs generally receive an out-sized portion of attention from the media and fans. This is good news for the quarterback when the team is winning. It is bad news when the team is not. The all-time leading passers in NFL history are Drew Brees, who leads in career yards, and Peyton Manning, with the most career touchdowns. Brees began his career with the then-San Diego Chargers, but has played for the New Orleans Saints since 2006. Manning played most of his career with the Indianapolis Colts, then finished his career with the Denver Broncos and retired in 2016 after winning Super Bowl 50, his second Super Bowl win. Manning also holds the records for most yards and TDs in a season (the former by one yard over Brees).

The running backs, often subdivided further into halfback, or tailback and fullback roles (while they remain distinct roles, the names no longer accurately describe the differences). The halfback is usually the team's primary rusher - in other words, most of the team's running plays will involve him in some way. As such, he's usually the more agile of the two backs. Halfbacks are also expected to block on passing plays and occasionally act as a receiver. The fullback is typically larger and is primarily used for blocking and short-range pass catching, but will run occasionally, especially when only a few yards are needed. Both can also be used as targets in the passing game. The fullback will usually (ironically) line up behind the quarterback, with the halfback behind him. Running backs of any type tend to have shorter careers than quarterbacks and wide receivers, as the position is physically demanding and more prone to injuries - as a result, it is becoming more common for teams to rotate and make liberal use of two and sometimes three different running backs. At the professional level, it is becoming less common for teams to have a dedicated fullback on the roster, such teams often substituting another halfback or a tight end to assume the roll of fullback on the handful of plays that might require one. The all-time leading rusher in the NFL is Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals. Notable halfbacks of the past include LaDainian Tomlinson, Walter Payton, and Barry Sanders. Current stars at the position include Adrian Peterson (a Jack-of-All-Stats that has been at or near the top of the rushing leaderboard nearly every season of his career, and in the 2012 season came just barely short of the setting the single-season NFL rushing record despite having ACL surgery, which usually puts a player on the shelf for a year or more, less than 8 months prior to the start of the season), Chris Johnson (had a 2,000-yard rushing season a few years ago, but has also showed signs of being a Fragile Speedster, and Maurice Jones-Drew, famous for his production and durability in relation to his height - or lack thereof, standing at just over 5'6". Notable fullbacks in football history include Jim Brown (although he was primarily a running fullback, with minimal blocking duties), Mike Alstott, Lorenzo Neal, and Daryl Johnston.

The wide receivers are the primary targets in the passing game. Before the play starts, they usually stand at the line of scrimmage a good distance away from ("wide" of) the nearest offensive tackle. Most offensive formations include at least two of them on the field; some will feature as many as five. Their job is to catch the ball or block for a running back. The all-time leading receiver in the NFL is Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, and Denver Broncos (his records include most career receiving yards, most career catches, most career all-purpose yards and most career touchdown catches). Wide receiver, by virtue of its role in the offense, has a number of current and former stars - included in the most consistent high-level performers of today are the current most single-season yards record holder Calvin Johnson, whose size (6'6", 230+), speed (can run 40 yards in under 4.4 seconds) and leaping ability make him an almost-literal Real Life Game-Breaker (to the point that his nickname is actually Megatron), who in 2012 came just shy of 2,000 receiving yards and broke Jerry Rice's single-season record; Andre Johnson, who has put up nearly equally insane statistics while being a prime target on a largely mediocre team for his entire career; Larry Fitzgerald; and Michael Thomas.

The offensive line consists of five players: one center (the center of the line, expected to assign blocking schemes to the rest of the line and usually snaps the ball to the quarterback), two guards (who line up to either side of the center), and two tackles (who line up to either side of the guards). Their job is to block for the offensive backs - in other words, prevent the other defense from getting to the backs. This includes both pass blocking by simply diverting the defense from reaching the quarterback, and run blocking, where the linemen actively create running routes for the backs. The backs include anyone behind the line of scrimmage at the beginning of the play and usually include the quarterback, between zero and three running backs, and a tight end or wide receiver (there must be seven players on and four players behind the line for an offensive formation to be legal). The center's job is also to snap the ball to the quarterback. Offensive linemen are ineligible to touch a forward pass before another member of the offense or defense and cannot move more than five yards beyond the line of scrimmage (in the NFL they may not move past the "neutral zone", area defined by the distance between the tips of the ball before the ball is snapped) before the ball passes them (unless the offensive team publicly declares otherwise). Offensive linemen generally only touch the ball on fumbles, but there are a very few plays that have a tackle as an eligible receiver. Probably the best known center in recent years is Jeff Saturday, who retired after the 2012 season; he spent most of his career snapping the ball to Peyton Manning for the Indianapolis Colts and played his final season with the Green Bay Packers. Michael Oher, former Carolina Panthers player of The Blind Side fame, is an offensive lineman (the term "the blind side", in football, refers to the side of the field that the quarterback is not facing when he turns to make a pass or a handoff; thus the offensive line position protecting that side - generally the tackle, Oher's position - is key to a successful offensive line.) In most cases (including Oher's) it's the the left tackle who plays this key role, as most quarterbacks (as with most of the general population) are right-handed (notable exceptions to that rule include Michael Vick and Tim Tebow).

The tight end usually lines up alongside or offset from the offensive line (in other words, they line up tight on the ends of the offensive line). Tight ends are often used to block and were originally intended solely for that role, but are eligible receivers and most passing plays are now designed with the tight end as an option. Any given play may have anywhere from 0 to 4 tight ends. Some famous recent tight ends are Shannon Sharpe, Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten (currently the top all-time receiver, in terms of number of catches, from the Dallas Cowboys, beating out all the actual wide receivers), Antonio Gates, Jimmy Graham, and Rob Gronkowski, who in 2011 obliterated virtually every single season record ever posted at the position. There is also an increasing trend of using H-backs (hybrid-back), players who can both fill the tight end and fullback roles. (An H-Back is more of a skill set rather than a designated position. During any given play an H-Back will act as either a full back or a tight end though due to pre-snap motion their role on the given play may be faked to the opposing defense.) Chris Cooley, formerly of the Washington Redskins, was a prototypical H-back.



Defense

note Technically, there are no officially required positions, or for that matter formations, on the defensive side as there are on the offensive. The position names have simply developed through the years to describe the most efficient methods thus far found to succeed at their task of preventing the offense from scoring. The defensive line consists of between two and five linemen, depending on what package is being used. Most defensive packages use three or four: one or two tackles in the middle and two ends. Their goal is primarily to muck up whatever the offensive line is trying to do: If they're trying to clear a hole for a run, it's their job to plug it and if possible tackle the runner. If they're trying to protect the quarterback, it's the D-Line's job to get past them and, if possible, sack the quarterback. Alternatively, the defensive line can be used to open up holes in the offensive line to allow other defensive players like linebackers and safeties to have a run at the quarterback or running back. In a 3-4 defense (when there are only 3 linemen), the single tackle is known as the "nose tackle" and lines up directly in front of the center, whose typical job is to drive the center back into the quarterback. A good nose tackle is a top commodity, as they need to be both big and fast. Some recent famous defensive linemen are Michael Strahan, Jared Allen, Dwight Freeney, Ndamukong Suh, J.J. Watt, and Aaron Donald.

The linebackers are two to four players who line up behind the defensive linemen (named because they back the defensive line). Linebackers are generally the most versatile players on the defense and can be used to rush the quarterback, support the run defense, or cover slower receivers like backs or tight ends. Typically, a middle linebacker is the play caller for the defense (sometimes called the "quarterback of the defense", not to be confused with a seventh defensive back in the "quarter" package; see below), as this position has a good view of the offense's formation and his location at the center of the defensive formation makes it easier for all the other defenders to hear him. The linebackers are known informally as the Mike (and Moe or Jack in a four-backer set) for inside linebackers and Will and Sam for the weak side and strong side (the side of the offensive line with the tight end) linebackers. The second number in the common naming system for defense (ex: 4-3 has 4 defensive linemen and 3 linebackers, while the 3-4 has 3 and 4, respectively.) Among the best recent linebackers in football are Ray Lewis, Patrick Willis, Brian Urlacher, DeMarcus Ware, James Harrison, Von Miller, and Khalil Mack. Both Dick Butkus and Lawrence Taylor, often considered in lists of "top defensive player of all time" (or even "top player of all time"), were linebackers.

Defensive backs: There are usually four or five backs on the field for most plays, though defense packages exist that include as many as seven. The four that are on the field at most times include two cornerbacks (line up on the outsides or corners of the defense, usually against the top two wide receivers), a strong safety (who lines up on the same side as the offense's tight end - hence its "strong" side), and a free safety. The defensive backs collectively are often referred to as the secondary. Their job is primarily to cover wide receivers and stop the pass, but they will occasionally be used to assist in the pass rush or run defense. The fifth defensive back in a play that uses them is referred to as the "nickel" back (because he would be the fifth defensive back on the field), the sixth is called the "dime", and the seventh is a "quarter" (which may cause some confusion). Some excellent defensive backs of the recent past include Deion Sanders, Charles Woodson, Darrelle Revis, and Richard Sherman.

Special Teams

The placekicker attempts to kick field goals and extra points, for which the ball is snapped to another offensive player who then holds it to the ground (places it) for the kicker (unless the kicker is named Charlie Brown). Some teams employ two kickers, in which case one handles the above duties and one is a kickoff specialist who kicks the ball off of a tee to the other team at the start of play and after scores. Most teams have one kicker who handles both duties due to limited roster space. (A few teams have the punter double as the kickoff specialist instead of the placekicker.) Traditionally, holding the kick was the job of the starting quarterback, but this has changed in recent years (the now-retired Tony Romo of the Cowboys was one of the last starting QBs who still did this) and it is most typically the backup quarterback, or more often the punter, who handles the placement note this is due to practicalities of the practice schedule and roster rules. Because playbooks are so large in the NFL both the starting quarterback and backup quarterback are required to study and practice the plays the offense will be running during the game. If there is a third quarterback on the team he cannot take the field unless the starter and backup have both been ruled ineligible (injured or unable to play) for the remainder of the game. This makes it impractical to have the quarterback-skilled player receiving the snap and there is a small danger involved in handling the snaps if the QB's hand accidentally gets kicked. Finally, the special teams players are usually left to their own to practice kicks so the punter gets the most practice in holding the football for placekicks The most accurate kicker in NFL history is Justin Tucker, who has played his entire NFL career to date with the Baltimore Ravens. Kickers are known for longevity; since they get defensively hit on plays only maybe about a few times a year they can go deep into their forties before retirement; Morten Andersen didn't retire until he was age 48.

The most accurate kicker in NFL history is Justin Tucker, who has played his entire NFL career to date with the Baltimore Ravens. Kickers are known for longevity; since they get defensively hit on plays only maybe about a few times a year they can go deep into their forties before retirement; Morten Andersen didn't retire until he was age 48. The punter is used when one team wishes to trade a change of possession for improved field position. The punter receives the snap himself and kicks the ball (without letting it touch the ground) toward the other team's defended goal. While the kicking team can recover a kickoff without the receiving team touching the ball, the kicking team cannot recover a punt without an error on the part of the receiving team; if the punted ball touches any member of the receiving team and is not held onto, it is counted as a fumble (even if never touched the hands of the receiving player, which on rare occasions results in an amusing event like the ball bouncing off a receiving player's helmet and into the hands of a kicking-team player). While rare, sometimes the same player acts as both the placekicker and the punter. Like placekickers, punters tend to have long careers, as they're rarely hit. The punter with the longest average in NFL history is Shane Lechler, who played most of his career with the Oakland Raiders; the consensus greatest punter of all time is Ray Guy, who played his entire career with the team in both Oakland and L.A. While it's become significantly less common, quarterbacks still will sometimes be called on to punt; this is known as a "quick kick". In the modern game, this is a mild form of trick play in which the team fakes going for it on fourth down, then the quarterback punts the ball away with nobody deep to return it. In very recent years, the position has become notable as home for an increasing number of former Australian rules football players, with former Chargers and Vikings punter Darren Bennett being the Trope Maker and Trope Codifier (though not the Ur-Example).

Most teams also employ a long snapper who handles snapping duties for placekicks and punts, due to long snaps being different enough from standard shotgun snaps to be difficult for centers. He's the football version of Nobody Loves the Bassist. Most fans don't know that most teams use a specialized long snapper - and if they do, they probably can't name one who hasn't screwed up recently.

While most teams use a receiver or defensive back to return kicks, some teams employ a return specialist, a player nominally assigned to a standard position whose primary duties are to return kickoffs and punts, and occasionally cover the opponents' returns. Devin Hester, longtime returner for the Chicago Bears now playing for the Atlanta Falcons, is the most successful return specialist in NFL history; Philadelphia Eagles (formerly New Orleans Saints) return specialist Darren Sproles holds the single-season record for all-purpose yardage; and Cleveland Browns return specialist Josh Cribbs holds the all-time mark for most return touchdowns (8 PR touchdowns and 3 KR touchdowns, including 2 KR touchdowns in one game).

Teams also have players called gunners, who are called on to run down as fast as possible on punt and kickoff coverage to break up possible returns. The position developed because of an NFL rule stating that only the two players on either end of the offensive line can cross the line of scrimmage during a punt play before the ball is kicked. The gunners, who are almost always backup receivers, running backs, or defensive backs, must be fast and able to shed blocks, as they will usually have one or two players on the receiving team trying to block them as they go down the field. If a gunner is not covered by the receiving team, he may be the target for a pass off a fake punt. In the Pro Bowl (NFL all-star game), the "special teams" position is specifically used to recognize outstanding gunners. By acclamation, the best gunner in NFL history is Steve Tasker, who made the Pro Bowl seven times with the Buffalo Bills and was even named the game's MVP in 1993.

Finally, here are some terms you might want to know

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General Terms

Down: A play. (So named because a play usually ends when the ball carrier is tackled, i.e. forced down to the ground.) For a legal series, the offense has four tries to move the ball ten yards. If the offense moves the ball far enough, then the down series starts back over and it's first down again. If the offense runs out of downs, possession is turned over at the final position of the ball. As a result, teams treat fourth downs very conservatively and will usually either punt the ball or try for a field goal if they are at a reasonable range. "Going for it" on fourth down is only done when the first down is more strategically valuable than the turnover is detrimental, or the team is desperate for points or field position. Downs are usually called out as "Nth and X", where N is the number of the down (4th is sometimes replaced with "last") and X is the number of advanced yards required to start the down count over: "2nd and 7", for example, means the offense is on its second try to move the ball ten yards away from where the first down took off, and their current play must move the ball 7 yards forward in order to restart the down count. If the ball is downed within the ten yards approaching the Goal Line, the downs are then called as "Nth and Goal", as there is no first down to gain, and the team must score to avoid turning it over. In situations where less than a whole yard remains to convert, the play will commonly be called out as "Nth and short" or possibly "Nth and inches", whereas plays requiring large yardage gains may be called out as "Nth and long". Yards lost as a result of a play or penalty are added on to the distance required to convert the first down, so a team that loses 5 yards on a 1st-and-10 play (with no penalty involved) will face 2nd and 15 on their next play. During the game, officials on the sidelines employ a pair of large orange sticks connected by a 10-yard length measuring chain to mark the distance required for a new first down. These officials are known colloquially as "the chain gang". Occasionally, they will be called out onto the field itself to measure the final position of the ball when a play is too close to call by the referee's eye alone. Thus a common slang term for converting is "moving the chains". A play series that is particularly unproductive is often called a "three and out", meaning the offense used their first 3 downs and netted so little yardage (or negative yardage) that their only realistic option is to burn the 4th down by punting the ball away and getting off the field. On television, the line to achieve a new first down note Officially called the "line to gain," though this term is infrequently used by anyone other than the referees themselves. is rendered virtually for viewers, usually in yellow or white. However, it is merely for fan and analyst reference only; referees are disallowed from using the technology to make a ruling and the orange marking pad on the ground and the down chains are the official tools used for measurements.

Line of Scrimmage: This is the line where the ball is placed at the beginning of each play. If the ball carrier is tackled behind it, they lose yardage. On television, it is often virtually projected on the field as a white or blue line.

Neutral Zone: the space between the teams before the ball is snapped that is as long as the ball from tip to tip. Neither team is allowed to be in that area until the ball is snapped and ineligible receivers are not allowed to proceed past this area during passing plays until the ball is past them.

Snap: The moment when the Center lifts the football off its place on the ground and a play officially begins. Immediately prior to the snap, the entire offensive team must freeze in place for one second, except for one member of the offensive backfield who is allowed to be in lateral motion.

Line to Gain: This line initially begins 10 yards from the line of scrimmage at the beginning of each down series. If the offense moves the ball beyond it, they've achieved a new series of downs. On television, it is virtually projected on the field as a yellow line (red on fourth down, unless the team lines up to punt in which case the TV broadcasters rarely bother to change the color).

Goal Line: These are lines at both ends of the 100-yard football field. If a team moves the ball past its opponent's goal line it scores a touchdown. If the ball carrier gets pushed back behind his own goal line and tackled then the defense scores a safety.

End Zone: The area behind each goal line which is legally within the bounds of play. In American Football, the end zones are ten yards deep.

Lateral Pass: Or simply "lateral". Any exchange in which the ball is transferred laterally or behind the ball's current position. A lateral is legal at any time, between any two players. Handoffs are considered lateral passes. An incomplete lateral pass is live and considered a fumble. Other than handoffs or pitch-outs/sweeps (where the running back doesn't run close enough to the quarterback to directly take a handoff, so he can get to the outside of the field faster), laterals are usually not scripted into a play. Sometimes, they are part of a play - like in instances where someone other than the quarterback throws a forward pass. Every once in a blue moon, you'll see a designed lateral happen after a reception - resulting in miracle plays like this one. In theory, the number of times a ballhandling unit can do this with a live ball is unlimited - which can result in insane/controversial plays that go down in college/pro football lore like these here .

In theory, the number of times a ballhandling unit can do this with a live ball is unlimited - which can result in insane/controversial plays that go down in college/pro football lore like these here . Forward Pass: Any exchange in which the ball is transferred to a point in front of its current position. A forward pass is illegal after the ball or passer has advanced beyond the line of scrimmage (even if one or both retreats behind again), a forward pass has already been attempted this down (even if, by some circumstance, the ball didn't cross the line of scrimmage, which can happen if the ball deflects off of a hand or helmet), or if an ineligible offensive player touches the ball before an eligible player. An incomplete forward pass kills the play and stops the clock with no change of possession. A legal pass also must have a clear intended receiver, that is, there must be an eligible player that the passer was trying to throw the ball to. If an official believes that an incompletion was thrown blindly by the passer simply to avoid being tackled with it, an "intentional grounding" penalty may be called. This is a very serious penalty that results in the loss of 10 yards (or down at the spot the pass was thrown from, whichever is greater) and a loss of a down. One of the skills of a seasoned quarterback when a pass play has failed is to always throw just close enough to an eligible player that he won't be penalized, but also just far enough away that it's out of range of a defensive player to intercept. Intentional grounding can be avoided if the quarterback is no longer behind his offensive line; in this case, the ball can be thrown almost anywhere for simply an incomplete pass (as long as it crosses the line of scrimmage). However, this can be as dangerous as intentional grounding since a quarterback in this situation no longer has his linemen to protect him and generally can see far less of the field. General practice in this case is to throw the ball far forward and out-of-bounds, or out the back of the end zone if inside the "red zone".

Red Zone: The area between the end zone and 20-yard line of the opposing team. So called because the offensive team has a very high chance of scoring at least a field goal, if not a touchdown, when they have reached this point. Having a play series end in the red zone with no points scored is generally considered to be a significant failure. Having it happen repeatedly is usually a sign of an inept offense or extremely tough defense.

Penalties: Officials carry weighted yellow flags and throw them onto the field to indicate that a violation of the rules occurred during the preceding play. The violating team will then be penalized by moving the line of scrimmage 5-15 yards towards their goal for the following play. Some offensive penalties will also carry a loss of down, as opposed to a replay of the current down. Some defensive penalties also carry an automatic first down for the offense; that is, the offense is awarded a new down series from the reset line of scrimmage, no matter whether the penalized yards would move the line of scrimmage beyond the line to gain. Some penalties are "spot fouls", meaning that they're assessed as a distance from the spot of the foul instead of from the line of scrimmage, making them particularly devastating to the offending team. Technical fouls usually carry 5- or 10- yard penalties, while personal fouls always carry 15-yard penalties (and an automatic first down for defensive personal fouls). Particularly egregious fouls result in ejection (unlike in the other football, the player can be replaced); this is almost always followed by a hefty fine, and sometimes suspension for a period of time (with corresponding loss of salary). Note that most penalties are imposed in place of the results of the live play, so the team receiving the penalty has the option to decline the penalty in favor of the result. This is intended to prevent intentional penalties that would negate plays with large yardage swings. Personal Fouls, however, always add yardage to the end of the play. As well, certain situations (such as a penalty committed during a PAT) allow the offended team to assess the penalty in any number of additional ways (for example, during the ensuing kickoff rather than on the PAT). There are also 'dead-ball' fouls, pre-snap procedural penalties that always negate the following play. Offsetting penalties always negate each other, no matter if there is a difference of degree. To avoid deliberate penalties near the end of games (trading yards for clock stoppages), offensive penalties in the last minute of a half include a clock runoff (unless the clock is/has been stopped for reasons unrelated to the penalty, or the fouling team chooses to take a timeout, or the penalty is for delay of game). These flags used to be weighted with BBs, but the practice ceased when a referee accidentally threw a flag into the face of a lineman, nearly blinding the player in one eye. Especially egregious offenses (such as an inactive player, or even in one infamous instance a coach, leaving the sidelines to interfere with a play) can also fall under "palpably unfair acts", which is exceptionally rare but allows the referee to award any yardage penalty he sees fit, eject the offender, and/or award an automatic touchdown to the other team. The palpably unfair act penalty was created for instances when the team committing the foul would gain such an extreme advantage that the standard yardage penalty would be insufficient to deter such behavior. Essentially, anyone who commits an infraction severe enough to require this penalty can be seen as having outright cheated rather than having just committed a normal infraction. note One famous example of the "palpably unfair act" penalty came in the 1954 Cotton Bowl, when Rice was awarded a touchdown after Alabama running back Tommy Lewis came off the bench to tackle his Rice counterpart Dickie Maegle (then spelled Moegle), who was racing down the sideline with no one legally in position to stop him from scoring. For a list of common penalties, see here.



Offense-Related Terms

Formation: A standardized pre-snap lineup. Seven players (the linemen plus two eligible receivers) must be on the line of scrimmage and the four remaining eligible receivers must be behind the line (one of whom takes the snap, naturally). The standard NFL set, known as the 'I' formation includes one tight end on the right side of the offensive line; one split end, a receiver on the left side of the line, but separated from the linemen; a flanker on the right side, separated and one yard back; the quarterback under center; and the fullback and halfback two and four yards behind him, respectively. All formations can be varied by changing the placement or position of the offensive backs and line receivers. References may be found to the old 'T' formation note From times before rules changes made passing offenses more viable , which (compared with the more modern 'I') replaced the flanker with a third running back, all of which were lined up next to each other behind the quarterback, making the combination of center, quarterback, and running backs resemble a "T" shape. note The NFL rulebook will sometimes refer to a 'T' formation, but in this case the term refers to a formation where the quarterback is lined up less than two yards behind center, and generally receives the ball by being handed it from the center, as opposed to a 'direct snap' such as in the shotgun or pistol formations. Shotgun: A formation in which the quarterback lines up five yards behind the center. In the standard shotgun, a running back lines up to the quarterback's left and one yard forward and the other running back is replaced with a slot receiver, a receiver lined up between the line and the split end, one yard behind the line of scrimmage. Pistol: A variant of the shotgun, in which the quarterback stands about a yard closer to the center, with a running back lined up about three yards directly behind him. The formation, popularized by former University of Nevada, Reno head coach Chris Ault, is designed to allow more options for the running game than the regular shotgun. Although it is seen as something of a gimmick at the highest levels, it can be seen from time to time in college and high school, and a few NFL teams will occasionally use it. The most notable of these was the San Francisco 49ers when their starting QB was Colin Kaepernick, who ran that offense under Ault at Nevada. Ace or Singleback: Any set in which the fullback is replaced with an extra wide receiver or tight end. This results in only one running back in the backfield, hence the term. Pro: A set in which the fullback and the halfback (or two halfbacks, or two fullbacks) line up at the same depth from the quarterback. A standard Pro set have the backs line up on either side of where the halfback would normally go, and is sometimes called a 'Y' formation. Some formations have one of the backs line up in the standard halfback position, and are called "Near" and "Far" depending on which side the other back goes; "Near" if the back is on the strong side, and "Far" if the back is on the weak side. Wishbone: Take the standard Pro set, subtract the tight end or a wide receiver, and add the fullback in his standard position. An Inverted Wishbone instead takes the standard pro set and moves it to fullback depth (with two fullbacks or tight ends in the backfield), then adds a halfback at the normal halfback spot, usually replacing a wide receiver. Wildcat: A nonstandard (at higher levels) formation wherein the quarterback, usually a nonstarter or a player out of position, lines up in shotgun position and one man always begins in motion. The formation is designed to spread the defense and allow option runs and short passes over the middle. It is generally considered a gimmick at the highest levels, but it is a high-school staple and a small number of NFL teams will use it from time to time.

, which (compared with the more modern 'I') replaced the flanker with a third running back, all of which were lined up next to each other behind the quarterback, making the combination of center, quarterback, and running backs resemble a "T" shape. Personnel Package: Also known as a "personnel grouping", this concept has seen increasing use to denote offensive skill position players, especially in the NFL. These packages are described by a two-digit numeric code that denotes the number of running backs and tight ends. The number of wide receivers is not explicitly included in the code, but since six of the 11 offensive players are the linemen and QB, their number is trivially inferred. For example, as of the most recent NFL season in 2019, about two-thirds of plays are run with one running back, one tight end, and three wide receiversan "11 package" or "11 personnel".

Play Action: This is the most common type of trick play, wherein the quarterback pretends to hand the ball off to a teammate behind the line of scrimmage, then attempts a forward pass. While it does often successfully fake out a defense, it's so commonplace that it's barely even thought of as a trick play.

Draw: Sort of the inverse of a play action, this is a run play disguised as a pass play. The quarterback usually drops back and waits a moment before handing the ball off (or running it himself). Meanwhile, wide receivers will run routes downfield in an attempt to "draw" defensive backs away from the line of scrimmage to give his teammate room to run. If the quarterback fakes a throw (called a pump fake) before handing the ball off, this is called a Statue of Liberty play, due to the pose the quarterback assumes when faking the throw.

Screen: A short pass play disguised as a botched longer pass play. After the snap, the offensive lineman make a token attempt to block the defense, but then allow them through and run to the sidelines. The defensive linemen (hopefully) see the defenseless quarterback and chase him, whereupon he lofts a shallow pass to an eligible receiver set up behind those same offensive linemen. Like the Play Action, it started out as a trick play but has become so standard that it's no longer really thought of as such.

Shovel Pass: a short pass where the quarterback doesn't throw using his full motion or is thrown underhand. More rarely, it might be thrown sidearm, or flipped using a motion similar to that of a basketball shot (but from a lower angle).

Option: A type of play in which the quarterback receives the snap, then tries to run to the left or right around the line of scrimmage, accompanied by a running back. At any point the quarterback has the "option" of keeping the ball and advancing himself or tossing a lateral to the running back. There are various types of option plays, but the most popular today involves the quarterback and running back. The option is a very popular play among teams up to the Division I FBS level, and many of these teams treat the option as central to their offense (Nebraska was famous for using a run-oriented option offense into the early 2000s). In the NFL, the option is seen as a novelty play, and is used rarely because the quarterback risks injury and option plays tend to be relatively slow-developing, which is a lot more problematic in the NFL since defenses tend to be much faster than at lower levels. Spread Option: A more modern form of the option offense, usually run out of a shotgun or pistol formation. The initial "option" in this offense involves the quarterback deciding whether to keep the ball or hand it to the running back. If the QB still has the ball at this point, he then has the choice of running or passing, or sometimes pitching to a receiver circling behind him. In the 21st century, the spread option has become a staple for many teams up to college level, with Ohio State and Oregon being just two of the best-known users of that scheme. In college, it's largely evolved away from being an "option" at all (many schools refer to it as the "Spread Offense"), with the decision of run or pass already having been made before the ball is snapped, but the formation being basically the same on both running and passing plays. In the NFL, it's largely seen as a gimmick, although some teams have added it as a part of their overall offensive package.

Hail Mary: A play in which the quarterback avoids the defense for as long as possible, then throws the ball high in the air as far as possible, in the hopes that someone (on his team) will catch it. Obviously not a high-percentage play, this is used late in games when the offensive team is down by a touchdown or less. Doug Flutie, a quarterback who later went on to have moderate success with the NFL's Buffalo Bills, is still famous for completing a Hail Mary pass to narrowly lead his Boston College team to victory over Miami in 1984. The term itself stems from a 1975 pass by Dallas Cowboys quarterback and devout Catholic Roger Staubach; prior to that historic moment, the same play was called an Alley Oop. The terms "Hail Mary" and "Hail Mary pass" have since entered the American lexicon for any spectacular, last-ditch effort with a low chance of success.

Flea Flicker: A trick play in which the ball is handed off (or pitched) to a running back, who begins to run only to throw the ball back to the quarterback, who then targets receivers who are by now far downfield. An all-or-nothing play that nearly always results in big gains, big losses... or worse. The infamous 1985 Lawrence Taylor hit on Joe Theismann, which resulted in a career-ending compound fracture to Theismann's leg, came on a botched flea flicker. A simplified version, the "Halfback Option", has the running back simply throw to a receiver downfield himself.

Quarterback Kneel: Also known colloquially as "taking a knee" or the "victory formation" because of how common it is to secure victory, taking a knee is where the quarterback takes the snap and immediately drops to one knee. By the rules, this is counted as downing the ball, and the clock will continue to run short of the opposing team taking a time-out or some other circumstance. It is very common at the ends of games where one team has victory locked up and just wants to run out the clock (for example, if they lead by 4 points with less than a minute to go with the other team having no timeouts remaining). In the standard formation, there are three people in the backfield besides the quarterback—their only job is to grab the ball in the event of a bad snap, or (if necessary) to stop the defense from making it to the end zone. This formation came about after "The Miracle at the Meadowlands ", a game that also led to universal acceptance of the kneel-down play after a botched handoff while attempting to run out the clock on the final play resulted in a fumble run back by the defense for a touchdown. The now-defunct Arena Football League effectively banned the quarterback kneel up until its final two seasons of operation; if the leading team wanted to run the clock out in the final minute of regulation, they had to advance the ball past the line of scrimmage on every play, otherwise the clock would stop, making a one-possession lead in the final minute less of a foregone conclusion.

", a game that also led to universal acceptance of the kneel-down play after a botched handoff while attempting to run out the clock on the final play resulted in a fumble run back by the defense for a touchdown. The now-defunct Arena Football League effectively banned the quarterback kneel up until its final two seasons of operation; if the leading team wanted to run the clock out in the final minute of regulation, they had to advance the ball past the line of scrimmage on every play, otherwise the clock would stop, making a one-possession lead in the final minute less of a foregone conclusion. Spiking the Ball: The opposite of taking a knee, spiking the ball occurs when you need to stop the clock as quickly as possible. Spiking the ball generally involves the offense moving to the line as quickly as they possibly can, snapping it, and immediately throwing it into the ground. This counts as an incomplete pass, and is in most rulebooks a specific exception to the intentional grounding rule (as long as the ball is handed to the quarterback by the center, rather than snapped long in a shotgun formation or similar, and as long as the quarterback does so immediately). Doing so immediately stops the clock. It is generally used near the ends of halves when one team doesn't have—or doesn't want to waste—any timeouts. Using this technique to stop the clock does cost the down that the "play" is run, so obviously it should not be run on fourth down. A more interesting play is faking spiking the ball, which generally catches the defense off-guard and allows open receivers to get into position to catch the ball.

No-Huddle Offense: A tactic used by the offense in which they rush into formation to begin play immediately after their last without going into a huddle, with the plays called at the line. This is normally done when a team must score and time is running out (in which case it is often called a "hurry-up" offense), but can also be used to wear down the opposing defense by giving them little time to make changes to their formation or substitutions, leaving them with personnel on the field not suited for what the offense is doing and possibly forcing the defensive team to use a timeout. Due to the frequent use of this during the final minutes of the game, the "hurry-up" version is sometimes called the "two-minute offense". Some teams are known for running a no-huddle offense for most if not all of the game, most notably the Oregon Ducks in college football, and the Denver Broncos and New Orleans Saints in the NFL. While, as noted, this tends to wear down an opposing defense, the risk incurred is that it gives your own defense less time to rest when the offense is on the field. When Peyton Manning was starting for the Colts, then later finishing his career with the Denver Broncos, his teams ran a slower version of the no-huddle by rushing to the line... then waiting to snap the ball until either the defense attempts a substitution (incurring a penalty in the process), or until the play clock is down to a few seconds (forcing the defenders to hold their positions for a very long time, which they would be less used to than their offensive counterparts). He'd also make adjustments at the line based on what he saw the defenders do.

Defense-related terms

Tackle: A defensive player can end a play by forcing the ball carrier to the ground, forcing the ball carrier out of bounds, or halting his forward momentum to the satisfaction of the nearest official. If any part of the carrier's body from the knees or elbows inward touches the ground, it's enough to end the play, so long as an opposing player is touching him when it happens or the ball carrier went down as a result of contact with a defender (ie if a defender pushes the ball carrier and the carrier falls to his knees, he's down even if the defender is no longer touching him when he falls). Having a hand, forearm, foot, or lower leg touch the ground isn't enough. If the ball carrier falls on his own or catches a pass while on the ground and his knee, elbow and/or body touches the ground, in the NFL, he is not tackled until a defender touches him. If he manages to get back up before any defenders arrive, the play continues. At the college and high school levels, on the other hand, the player is down if he falls even without being touched. This typically results in a tackle being credited to whichever defender was closest to the ball carrier. NFL rookies occasionally forget about this rule difference, resulting in defenders missing opportunities to down a fallen ball carrier or a ball carrier being too slow to get up and run for extra yardage.

Package / Alignment: The terms "package" and "alignment" refer to the configuration of defenders on the field. The distinction between the two is a bit hazy, since as we noted above, defensive positions are assigned by custom rather than by rule. In general, though, terms like "4-3" and "nickel" carry about the same meaning as association football's "4-4-2". It specifies where the players are, but only gives you a rough idea of what they'll do.

Nickel: A defensive package designed for passing plays wherein one lineman or linebacker is replaced with either a third cornerback or a weak safety. The term comes from the US five-cent coin, called a nickel. Similarly, there exist 'dime' and 'quarter' packages which substitute in six or seven backs, respectively. Dime is increasingly rare and quarter is almost never seen anymore outside of the prevent defense. With the proliferation of pass-oriented spread offenses in college football in recent years, the nickel has become the base defense for some teams, with TCU being one notable example.

Sack: A sack occurs when a defensive player tackles the opposing quarterback while behind the line of scrimmage on a passing play. Perhaps paradoxically, for stat-keeping reasons, in college, the quarterback is considered to have lost yardage on a running play when this happens, and the existence of plays like the play action mean that even a failed quarterback run attempt will be credited as a sack. Forcing a quarterback to run out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage also counts as a sack. If any other player is tackled behind the line of scrimmage, it's simply referred to as being tackled "for a loss of X [yards]".

Turnover: A change of ball possession without the intent of the offense. This generally takes place in two ways, a fumble recovery or an interception.

Interception: An interception occurs when a defensive player catches a pass intended for an offensive player. This changes possession of the football and the defensive player is free to advance the football. Unlike offensive linemen, all defensive players may legally intercept a pass. Alternately/colloquially may be called a "pick" or "pick-off" of the pass, or a "pick 6" if the interception is returned for a touchdown and six points.

Fumble: A fumble occurs when the ball carrier drops the football while it is still in play. A wide receiver who does not catch his pass does not fumble; a fumble only occurs if the player had definite possession of the ball. If the defense is able to recover the football before the offense does, then the football changes possession. A ball fumbled out of bounds reverts to the offense at the spot where it crossed the sideline. Unless it's fumbled through the opposing team's end zone, in which case it's a touchback. Note that defensive players can advance any fumble, but offensive players cannot advance a ball fumbled forward from behind the line of scrimmage. This rule exists to prevent a specific trick play called a fumblerooski , in which a ballcarrier "accidentally" fumbles the ball forward to another player, getting around the rule against forward passes. The fumblerooski was banned for being too "undignified" (advancing a forward fumble was banned in the 1960s by the NFL, but it survived until 1992 in college), but on rare occasions modified versions are used that get around the ban by methods such a backwards bounce-pass or the center intentionally fumbling the snap (neither of which is a forward fumble). Another fumble trick was the infamous Holy Roller of 1978, in which Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler fumbled the ball forward as he was about to be sacked, causing the ball to roll toward the end zone, and then two other Raiders batted it forward into the end zone where one recovered it for a touchdown. This was ruled legal on the field because the officials couldn't tell if the fumble and the batting forward of the ball were intentional. The players involved all admitted that it was a deliberate fumble and that they only pretended to attempt to recover it prior to the ball reaching the end zone. This evasion of the "advancing a forward fumble" rule resulted in further restrictions on advancing a fumble by the offense: if the ball is recovered by an offensive player other than the one who fumbled it in the first place, a recovery on 4th down or after the two-minute warning results in the ball being placed at the spot of the fumble rather than wherever it had rolled to.

Safety: As mentioned above, if a ball carrier is tackled behind his own goal line, the defense is awarded two points and possession of the ball by means of an uncontested punt by the offensive team. A fumble that moves back through the ball carrier's end zone without being recovered by the defense is also a safety. If the ball is fumbled into the offense's end zone, they will often deliberately get a safety (by either falling on the ball or batting it out of bounds), because giving up 2 points and possession is considered safer than allowing a guaranteed touchdown by letting the defense recover the ball in the end zone.

Turnover on Downs: Not a turnover in the strict sense, this occurs when the offense chooses not to punt on fourth down and fails to score or get the yardage they need. Offenses "going for it" on fourth down is rare, and usually reserved when they really need a score or if the distance needed for first down is extremely short (as in "4th and inches"). As such, forcing a turnover on downs is a big win for the defense. Very aggressive coaches are more likely to "go for it", and a team that has a poor kicking game is likely to do so if they're outside of field goal range but close enough to the goal line that a punt would almost guarantee a touchback.

Blitz: A type of play in which linebackers or defensive backs attempt to rush past the offensive line (creating a "pass rush") and sack or at least put pressure on the ball-carrier, usually the quarterback. If the offense has a running back block the blitzing defender, thus nullifying the play, it is referred to as "picking up the blitz". Considered a risky play because it leaves areas of the field open. However, there are teams that have had lots of success with aggressive blitzing; the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers have long had a reputation for successful blitz-oriented defenses, and the Buddy Ryan-created "46 Defense " is an entire system developed around constantly applying such pressure to opposing offenses for whole games at a time. Zone Blitz: While a standard blitz involves sending more people than the usual 4 linemen (or 3 lineman and one linebacker) a zone blitz involves the defense faking which players will be rushing the quarterback and which players will be in coverage. For example, a defensive end may act like he's going to rush the quarterback and the strong safety may appear to be in coverage, however when the ball is snapped the safety rushes the quarter back while the defensive end covers. This is intended to cause mismatches between blockers and rushers and open up holes where a blocker expected someone to be and is not prepared for someone rushing from a different position. This of course can backfire if the lineman attempting to cover is not athletic enough to perform these duties.

" is an entire system developed around constantly applying such pressure to opposing offenses for whole games at a time. Prevent: A package involving at least seven defensive backs, most or all of whom are well over ten yards back from the line of scrimmage. The prevent defense concedes long runs and short passes in order to prevent long passes for a touchdown. Typically only used in the last minutes of a game by a team who already has the lead, and even then it's considered by many to be a bad idea; former player, coach and long-time TV commentator John Madden famously said "All a prevent defense does is prevent you from winning." The prevent is ideal for defending a Hail Mary on the last play of a game, though.

Special teams-related terms:

Kickoff: A kickoff begins both halves of football and resumes play after a score (except for a safety). The kickoffs take place from the kicking team's 35-yard line and the ball is kicked from a tee (or held by a member of the kicking team; if the ball falls off the tee due to wind, the referee will require they have a member of the kicking team hold the ball like on a field goal attempt). The receiving team may not attempt to block this kick but both teams may contest for possession. note This part of the rule burned the Buffalo Bills at the end of the 2016 season; in a game where they were already being blown out by division rival the New York Jets, they allowed a kickoff from a Jets touchdown to roll into their end zone untouched, at which point a Jets gunner landed on it for another touchdown; the Bills kick returner even chased down said ball... only to stare stupidly at it for several seconds before making a belated lunge that was blocked by several other Jets who had run down with the gunner. The kicking team must stay behind the ball until it is kicked or the play will be offside. The ball must travel at least 10 yards before the kicking team can attempt to regain possession; though most kick offs are sent as far down the field as possible so the receiving team starts with poorer field position, under certain circumstances (usually a team that just scored still being behind late in the game) a kicking team will want to regain the ball immediately, and so will attempt an "onside kick", using a weak kick that travels the minimum distance while sending their own players to recover it instead of letting the other team get it and just blocking the return. The Alliance of American Football had no kickoffs. After a touchdown or field goal, the team scored upon automatically received the ball on its own 25-yard line... unless an "onside conversion" was attempted (see below under "Onside kick"). The 2020 version of the XFL had kickoffs, but with a radically different procedure from any past or present league. The kickoff took place from the kicking team's 30, and the kicker was the only player on either team on the kicking team's half of the field. The rest of the kicking team lined up on the receiving team's 35, while the receiving team lined up on its own 30 except for one returner. Additionally, both teams were required to have four players lined up inside the hashmarks, with three between the hashmarks and sideline on each side of the field. The kick had to be in the air, and at least reach the receiving team's 20. No member of either team, except for the returner, could move until (1) the ball was caught or (2) 3 seconds after it touched the ground. (After following through, the kicker could not move until the rest of his teammates could do so.)

The kicking team must stay behind the ball until it is kicked or the play will be offside. The ball must travel at least 10 yards before the kicking team can attempt to regain possession; though most kick offs are sent as far down the field as possible so the receiving team starts with poorer field position, under certain circumstances (usually a team that just scored still being behind late in the game) a kicking team will want to regain the ball immediately, and so will attempt an "onside kick", using a weak kick that travels the minimum distance while sending their own players to 