Can someone explain American Football to me?

Question

I've been trying to find out more about it but can't seem to wrap my head around it. Can someone explain it to me like I'm five? 🤣🤣

What's the goal? How is the game won? How long is the game played for? (It says an hour online but a large chunk of the superbowl seem to be taken up by ads)

VanessaValentine · Accepted Answer

Okay here we go…..

goal is to score points, there is two way of doing so. Kicking the ball into the big yellow field goals (3 pts) or running with the ball to the opponents end of the field. This is called a touchdown (6 pts).

There are 11 players on the field for each team. The offense tries to score and the defense tries to prevent them from scoring.

The kick off starts the game and is done after a team score, where one team kicks the ball at the other and the receiving team tries to catch it and run it up field as far as possible.

At the start of each play the ball is placed on the ground by the ref. This forms the line of scrimmage where neither team is allowed to go past the ball onto the opponents side untill the offense moves the ball.
As soon as the ball is moved the defense who is trying to anihilate whoever is holding the ball plows into the offense who is trying to protect the ball carrier and the play begins

the offense gets four “tries” to make it at least 10 yards of the 100 yard field. If they fail the ball is immediately given to the other team. The offense usually either gives it to a fast player to run it down the field or throws it to a player that is running down the field.

The defense tries to stop them by tackling the runner in which case the game is stopped and the offense gets to try again from the point where the ball carrier is tackled or the defense can stop the ball from being passed downfield. If no one catches the pass, the ball is returned to where it first started on that attempt. If the defense catches the ball they get possession and get to try to score and the roles are reversed.

there are a lot more rules but that is the basics and if you can understand this then it should be a lot easier to pick up on the little rules.

8UniquelyBoring8 · Accepted Answer

Well, American football is a game where two teams play against each other to try and score points by carrying or throwing a ball into the other team's end zone.

The players wear helmets, pads, and uniforms to protect themselves and there is a lot of strategy involved in deciding what plays to make.

The team with the ball, called the offense, will try to move the ball down the field and score by getting into the other team's end zone.

The other team, called the defense, will try to stop them by tackling the player with the ball or trying to intercept a pass.

The game is split into four quarters, each lasting about 15 minutes, and the team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

So, basically, American football is a game where two teams compete to score points by moving a ball past the other team's defenders and into the end zone.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

As near as I can tell it's one muscle bound and or fat moron running into another muscle bound and or fat moron while he tries to get a oblong ball past a painted line. They are paid ridiculous sums of money to do so due to thier incredibly short careers. You call it football I call it "felonball". As general the ones that aren't God enough to make it tend to end up in prison due to thier violent nature. And if they aren't violent enough, no worry. The repeated blows to the head they take will eventually make it so.

Am I leaving anything out?

OlderAndWiser · Accepted Answer

1. The goal is to have more points than your opponent at the end of the game. That is how you win.

2. The game is played for two thirty minute halves with a break in between. But the clock does not run constantly during the game. It stops for a variety of things and usually doesn't resume until the next play starts.

https://www.viqtorysports.com/how-to-understand-american-football-beginners-guide/

https://howtheyplay.com/team-sports/How-to-Understand-Football

zeitgeist057 · Answer

Like most sports, the team with the most points at the end wins.

The field they play on is 100 yards (~100m) long, with measurements of 2 and 10 yards marked out (10 yards with numbers, 2 yards smaller unnumbered lines).

Can someone explain American Football to me?

There is also a tool the referees use, two poles with a 10 yard chain between it, to determine if the 10 yard achievement has been made.

At the start of the game, there is a coin toss. The winner decides if they would like to kick off or receive. Most choose to receive, because this gives them "possession" of the ball and a better chance to score. The kicking off team "punts" the ball by running, kicking the ball across the field to the receiving team, and then continuing to run to tackle whoever catches the ball. The receiving team tries to catch the ball and run through the kick off team (now considered "defense") to the other end of the field (the "end zone"). If they are successful, that is called a "touchdown".

Another option for the receiving team is to voluntarily take a knee after catching the ball, or to not touch the ball at all and let it come to rest. If they do this, then they automatically start at the 20 yard line for "first down". This is a good choice if when they catch it, they don't think they can make it past the 20 yard line before getting tackled.

The ball could also go out of bounds, and is considered dead at that point. The receiving (offensive) team starts where the ball went out of bounds, or the 20 yard line, whichever is closer to their touchdown end zone.

Sorry if this is convoluted and confusing, I want to make it simple, but there are a lot of rules. I will also try to make a TLDR at the end.

The offensive team gets 4 tries or "downs" to progress 10 yards. If they are successful, then they get another 4 tries to go another 10 yards from the spot they made it to. There are passing (throwing) plays and rushing (holding the ball and running) plays. They line up at the line of scrimmage, the offensive team has possession of the ball, they are the ones who start the action by snapping the ball back to the quarterback. That's the permission for the defense to pass over the line of scrimmage and start to try and tackle or get the ball from a fumble (dropping). There will often be whistles and penalties for mistakes made like "False Start", which means a player moved over the line of scrimmage before the ball was snapped. There are heaps of penalties in football, it's a major part of the game, just like fouls and free throws are in basketball.

Usually the team will use their first 3 downs to make progress but if they haven't made 10 yards by the 4th down it's time for a decision. If they risk it, they could make 10 yards total and it's reset back to first down. But if they don't make it, it's a conversion, and the ball goes to the other team who then becomes offense. So the other, safer option is to use the 4th down to punt. This gets the ball much further away from the other team's goal of end zone, making it more difficult for them to score. A third option is if they are in field goal range, they can punt a field goal through the goal posts at the end zone and score a field goal. If they miss, though, the defense gets the ball at the point they missed from. 35 yards or less is a typical field goal range. Typically they will not risk trying to make 1st down on a 4th down, even if it's only 1-2 yards, just because the consequence of the offense having a 50+ yard lead on conversion is too much advantage.

If the offense gets to the end zone, they have scored a touchdown. After the touchdown, they get a bonus down from the 2 yard line to score either 1 more point with a short field goal, or 2 more points by rushing or passing into the end zone again. Mostly teams opt for the 1 point because it has a ~99% chance of success. 2 point conversion is done as a surprise move, but even as a surprise, has about a 50% success rate.

Touchdown = 6 pts. Field goal conversion = 1 pt. , rush/pass conversion = 2 pts.

Field goal (other than after a touchdown) = 3 pts.

2 point safety = defensive kick off team tackles offensive receiving team at or beyond end zone with football, (or offense fumbles ball there)

1 point safety = during a 2 point post-touchdown conversion attempt, the defense gains control of the ball but offense tackles them in the end zone.

There are several more factors like time outs which are used strategically much like in basketball, penalties, overtime rules, &c. but that's the basics.

As promised, TLDR: Teams take turns being offense and having possession of the ball. They get 4 "downs" (tries) to go 10+ yards, if they do, they get another 4 downs. Touchdowns for getting to the other end of the field, field goals for kicking through the goalposts.

Jazzy54 · Answer

Objective: one team has to score more points to win. The team leader (aka the quarterback) for each team attempts to throw the ball to his teammates so that they can score points for their team. If no teammate is open or available, the quarterback will try to score the points himself by running to the goal. Either way, the quarterback has to get rid of the ball quickly before he gets tackled by players from the opposing team.

Time: Can vary, but 2-3 hours. Many factors cause this (i. e. unfavorable weather conditions, player injuries, penalties, etc).

Sorry if that’s not basic enough. I’ll try to break it down further if you need me to. 😊

BrookeAZ90 · Answer

Pay no attention to the time. When it says 2 minutes left it means like 15 actual minutes. I'm certainly no expert but it seems to refer to an hour of actual playing but with a ton of standing around.

SeekerOfTruth007 · Answer

American Football is like Chess while Soccer/European Football is like Checkers.

There is a lot of strategy and nuance in American football. I've been watching football all my life and still don't understand why some plays work and some don't, because to really understand it you need to play it on an organized team of some size and skill.

jshm2 · Answer

It's basically British rugby. But with padding in case they hurt themselves, and dumb rules of play to make themselves look like they're actually not just running around like idiots.

MementoMori777 · Answer

not too sure either but the ball is shaped like stewie's head

Unknown29 · Answer

I leaned here

Iron_Man · Answer

It’s really long and complicated. You have to be very serious if I’m gonna take the time to try to write out a big novel.

Anonymous · Answer

if you are a woman, just watch and enjoy guys with tight butts who are strong, manly and stinky and sniff their socks afterwards

Can someone explain American Football to me?

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