Football 101- Football For Non Footballer's

Every football field is 120 yards in length (100 for the actual playing field, and 10 yards for each end zone), and 53.3 yards wide.

The numbering may seem confusing to those of you that are completely unfamiliar with a football field, so I will explain it for you. The line right before the end zone is known as the goal line. The very next yard marker (going away from the end zone) is the 1 yard line. This goes all the way up to the 49 yard line. The 50 yard line is shared territory and is also known as "mid-field". If you are watching a football game, and you hear the broadcaster say "They have the ball in their own territory"- It just means that the team has the ball before the 50 yard line. Once they get the ball past the 50 yard line, they are in the other teams territory.

Think of it like a battle- a battle to see who can take the ball the furthest into its opponents territory. The ultimate goal is to get it as far as possible and score!

Here is the scoring system for American Football

• Touchdown
  
  A touchdown is the nirvana of football. Every team's goal is to score as many touchdowns as possible! A touchdown is scored when a team takes the ball into the other teams end zone. When a team achieves this, they are rewarded with 6 points. Following a touchdown, the scoring team has the opportunity to go for an extra point or two extra points. The most common way of achieving this is by kicking a field goal (explained next) from the 2 yard line (in the opponents territory). This method of getting the extra point is worth only 1 point. It is the most common used method because it is the easiest to achieve. Another option is known as "going for 2", meaning the team has decided to try one play from the opponents 2 yard line. If that team can get the ball into the end zone again, they are rewarded with 2 points extra. Following a touchdown, the scoring team will kick the ball off back to the opposing team.


• Field Goal
  
  A Field Goal is a great way to score a few points for a team that is having trouble getting deep into the enemies territory. A team is rewarded 3 points for kicking a field goal. To complete this task, a kicker must kick a ball between two field goal post's (see a picture of field goal posts below).


• Safety
  
  A safety is worth 2 points. It is achieved by a teams defense tackling the opposing offense in their own territories' end zone. Following a safety, the team that is on defense is awarded with 2 points and the ball.

In American Football, there are 4 quarters. Each quarter is 15 minutes long. After the second quarter, the teams are given 15 minutes of half time. During this time, the teams go into their locker rooms to rest and make adjustments to their game plan.

I will not get into the strategic aspect of football in this lens (maybe in the future if this lens becomes popular), but there are a lot of small things that can be slightly changed in the game plan during half time that could ultimately change the face of the game, which is why having a great coaching staff is so important.

After half time, the teams play another 2 quarters of football. The team with the most points at the end of the 4th quarter wins the game! If there is a tie at the end of the 4th quarter, then the teams play an overtime period. The rules for overtime vary depending on which level of football that you are watching.

In Professional football (The NFL), there is another 15 minute quarter played, only this time, the first team that scores any type of point is the winner. This overtime is known as sudden death.

College football overtime is completely different than professional football overtime. In College football, each team is gets the ball on its opponents 25 yard line. If the team that gets the ball first scores, the other team has the opportunity to tie or beat that score. This goes on until one team has more points than the next. I know this may sound pretty confusing, but it really isn't.

Think of it like this- I give you a chance to score. You end up scoring a touchdown and an extra point. Now I get a chance to do the same thing. If I fail to get the same number of points that you did, then I lose and you win. Now, if you can only score a field goal, or you don't score at all, I have the opportunity to beat that score. If I beat your score, I win. Got it? If not, feel free to ask me for a better explanation.

Even though football games only have four, 15 minute quarters, the game usually takes much longer than an hour. If you plan on watching a whole football game (from beginning to end), I suggest that you make sure that you have at least 4 hours. Don't worry though, it will be a very exciting 4 hours! Especially when you actually understand some of this stuff now!

Each team is allowed 11 players on the field at one time. If a player is tired, or if a player gets injured, a team is allowed to substitute a player in for the tired or injured player. Substitution's also occur when a team makes changes to its formation (how the team is lined up on the field).

Football player's are usually in really good shape. It takes a lot of strength and stamina to play a long, physical game like football. Most professional football players have played football since they were big enough to run. If a football player makes it to the NFL, they have done a lot of work to get to that point.