Contents
The Football Field
Scoring in Football
The Structure of a Football Game
The Football Game Clock
How to Break Down a Football Play
Football Offense
Football Defense
Special Teams
Football Officials and Penalties
The NFL
College Football
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The Structure of a Football Game
All football games start with a kickoff. After the kickoff, the two teams trade off playing offense or defense and try to score or prevent the other team from scoring.
Kickoff
The opening kickoff starts the game:
- The ball is set up on a tee on the kicking team’s 30-yard line (the line 30 yards from the end zone that the kicking team is defending).
- The kicker on the kicking team kicks the ball. A kickoff typically travels into, or almost into, the opposing team’s end zone. All of the players on the kicking team run down the field after the ball in a preset formation.
- The kick returner on the receiving team catches the ball and runs it back toward the end zone where he’s trying to score. Players on the kicking team try to tackle him or push him out of bounds, and players on his own team try to block the opposing players.
The receiving team starts its first offensive series where the kick returner is tackled or forced out of bounds. If the kick returner carries the ball all the way to the kicking team’s end zone without being tackled or run out of bounds, he scores a touchdown.
Offensive Series
An offensive series is a sequence of plays in which the team on offense has possession of the ball. The offense tries to advance the football down the field into the end zone for a touchdown, or at least close enough to the uprights to give the kicker a reasonable shot at a field goal.
Plays
Unlike soccer, basketball, or hockey, in which the action continues largely without interruption, football is full of starts and stops. Each bit of action usually lasts five to ten seconds and is called a play (see How to Break Down a Football Play). Generally, there are two types of offensive plays:
- Running plays: A player on the offensive team runs with the ball for as many yards as possible.
- Passing plays: The offensive team tries to complete a forward pass to a receiver down the field. After catching the ball, the receiver tries to run for as many yards as possible.
A play ends either when a team scores or when the ball is ruled down (a play is also called a down). There are a few ways for the ball to be ruled down:
- A forward pass is incomplete because it either touches the ground or goes out of bounds before a receiver catches it.
- A player carrying the ball is tackled so that both his knees touch the ground.
- A player carrying the ball steps out of bounds.
On any offensive play, a team might score a touchdown, gain a number of yards, or lose a number of yards.
The Down System
To keep an offensive series going, the offense has four downs (four chances) to advance the ball at least 10 yards in the direction of the end zone in which it’s trying to score. Either of the following happens:
- If the offense succeeds in advancing the ball 10 yards in four downs or fewer, it’s awarded another four downs to advance the ball another 10 yards. This is called getting a first down.
- If the offense fails to advance the ball 10 yards after four downs, the offensive series ends and there is a change in possession. The team playing defense takes over the ball and begins to play offense, starting at the spot where the offense’s last play ended and going in the opposite direction. This is also called a turnover on downs.
The offense’s four chances to move the ball 10 yards are numbered 1st down, 2nd down, and so on. Football viewers often hear phrases such as “1st and 10” or “4th and 3.” The first number indicates which down the next play will be, and the second number indicates how many remaining yards must be gained before the offense is rewarded with a new first down.
Ten yards is the minimum amount that a team must gain within four or fewer downs. Teams often try—and succeed—at gaining significantly more than 10 yards on a single play, resulting in a new first down.
Special Fourth-Down Decisions
When a team fails to gain 10 yards after three downs, it’s faced with a critical decision on 4th down. The team can:
- Go for it: A team “goes for it” by using its 4th down to try to gain the remaining yards it needs in order to get a new first down. If the team fails to get the first down, the opposing team takes over the ball from the ending spot of the last play.
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Punt: If a team decides that its offense is unlikely to gain the necessary yards to get a first down, it can punt. In a punt, the offensive team drop-kicks the ball to the other team. Though punting means that the team is giving up on a chance to get a first down, it’s often a smart strategic play because it ensures that the other team’s offense starts its new offensive series far away from its target end zone. The team that receives the punt can return the punt in the same way that it can return a kickoff.
- Kick a field goal: If the team is in field goal range (close enough to the goalposts that the kicker has a good chance of kicking the ball through the uprights), the team can choose to try to kick a field goal.
Generally, teams “go for it” only in desperate circumstances when they absolutely need to score, especially near the very end of a game. For instance, if Team A is losing 10–3 and faces a 4th and 3 at the 50-yard line with just a minute left in the game, Team A is likely to go for the first down, because the only hope Team A has for tying the score is to continue down the field to try to get a touchdown.
In contrast, when it’s the middle of the game and Team A is tied with its opponent and faces a 4th and 3 at the 50-yard line, Team A is much more likely to punt. By punting, Team A hopes to pin the opposing team back against its own end zone, requiring the opposing team to travel almost the entire length of the field to score.
The Defense’s Goal During an Offensive Series
The defense’s goal during an offensive series is to prevent the opposing team’s offense from scoring. The defense does this by trying to cause a change in possession through a turnover on downs, by forcing the opposing offense to punt, or by creating another type of turnover.
Changes in Possession
In addition to a punt or a turnover on downs, a defense can force a change of possession by creating a turnover. There are two types of turnovers:
- Fumble: A fumble occurs when a player carrying the ball drops it. A player may fumble because the ball slips free or because a defensive player knocks it loose. If a defensive player grabs the loose football, the defense recovers the fumble, and there is a change in possession. If an offensive player recovers the fumble, there is no change in possession.
- Interception: An interception occurs when the offense throws a forward pass but a defensive player catches, or intercepts, it.
If a defensive player recovers a fumble or makes an interception, the player can immediately try to run the ball back toward his team’s target end zone. If he makes it to the end zone without being tackled or pushed out of bounds by the opposing team, he scores a defensive touchdown. A team that gains more turnovers than it gives up more often than not wins the game.
If a defensive player recovers a fumble or makes an interception in his own end zone (the end zone he’s defending), the opposing team can’t tackle him for a safety. Instead, the officials call a touchback, which means that the ball will come out to the 20-yard line.
Change of Possession After a Score
After a team scores points, the ball is kicked off to the team that has just been scored upon (with the exception of safeties explained below). Changes in possession that result from one team scoring are the only kind of change of possession not favorable to the defense.
Safeties and Change of Possession
When a safety occurs, the team that scores does not kick off to the other team. Instead, the team that has been scored upon kicks off the ball, beginning a new offensive series.
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