Football Mr. Schmidt

Football Basic Rules Football has hundreds of different rules. Officials take classes in order to officiate a game of American football, just as someone would take a driver's education class to learn to drive. The college and pro games also have idiosyncratic rules, fashioned to handle the different levels in talent, or simply to make the game move along faster. Among the pro games, there are many differences in the rules structure. That being said, there are certain basic football rules that are common to virtually all forms of American football. We will go over those below.

SCORING 6 pts. for a touchdown 3 pts. for a field goal 2 pts. for a safety (defense) 2 pts. for a 2 pt. conversion 1 pt. for an extra point

The Ball A football is a spheroid shaped ball of inflated leather. It has stitches along one side, which are usually used to better grip the ball. The team with control of the ball is said to have "possession", and it is this team's goal to move the ball down the field and across the opponent's goal line. If this happens, a score is made. Player's can move the ball by running with it, pitching it backwards to a teammate, handing it to a teammate, kicking it towards the goal post, or passing it over the opposition's heads. There are strict rules which limit the way in which each of these methods can be employed.

Snapping the Ball A football holdover from old Rugby rules is the snapping of the ball. A lineman, called the center, hikes the ball between his legs to the quarterback. This initiates a play sequence. Once the quarterback has possession of the ball, he tries to get the ball to his most athletic teammates. There are several ways of doing this.

An Incomplete Pass When a quarterback throws the ball forward, but no one on either team catches the ball before it hits the ground, this is called an incomplete pass. The ball is returned to the original line of scrimmage and that particular down is lost. Therefore, if it was first down and ten yards to go, then after an incomplete pass, it becomes second down and ten yards to go.

The Field A football field is 120 yards long. On each end of the field is an end zone, and both of these are 10 yards long. The object of the game is to move the football into one of these end zones. Therefore, the field between the end zone markers is 100 yards exactly. The field is 53 and 1/2 yards wide. The out of bounds is marked by a white line, which is called the boundary marker, boundary line or simply "out of bounds". When a player steps over this line, play stops. Between the end zone lines, there is a yard line every five yards. Every other one of these yard lines is marked with a number, which from left to right read 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10. These are used to count the distance from the center of the field towards either of the end zone lines. At the end of either end zone, there are goal posts. These post are 18.5 feet apart, and serve as targets for field goals and extra point attempts. Kicking the ball through these goal posts, also called uprights, yield 3 points for a field goal and 1 for an extra point. Each yard is also marked with a yard dash, which are called "yard markets". These are used by referees, broadcasters and fans alike, to keep track of a team's progress.

Moving the Ball In most American football rules, a team has four downs to move the ball ten yards. A "down" is simply a snap of the ball, which initiates a play. As long as a team continues to attain the ten yard minimum, a team retains possession of the ball. Reaching the ten yards (or more) in the allotted number of plays is called "gaining a first down". This simply means a team receives a new set of down, and once again has four plays to make ten yards. For the sake of field position, most teams punt on fourth down. This means that team usually use three down to get the ten yards, then yield possession of the ball on the fourth snap of the ball. Because a punt usually yields around 40 to 45 yards in field possession, it is often advantageous to force one opponent to go an extra forty yards, or four extra first downs. Games with little scoring, but lots of possessions which end in punts, are called field position battles.

Penalties There are many rules infractions in football. If one of the referees see an infraction, that official throws a yellow flag to signal that a penalty has occurred. After the play, the referees concur, where they determine the penalty yardage to be assigned. Each rules infraction comes with a standard yardage penalty, which is usually between 5 and 15 yards. There are special situations where the yardage may be more or less, but those will be covered on the Football Penalties page.

Game Duration NFL games are 60 minutes long. This is broken into four quarters of 15 minutes apiece. Every quarter, teams switch ends of the field. This is done to minimize the advantage one team might have in going with the wind, which can be a tremendous influence in the passing and kicking games. High school games typically have 12-minute quarters. The standard four quarters are called "regulation time" or "regulation play", or more simply regulation

The Offensive and Defensive Units Each team is allowed 11 players on the field at a time. Most football teams have distinct "offensive" and "defensive" units. A team is on offense when it has possession of the ball. A team is on defense when it does not. There are also transitional phases of the game, in which possession is being transferred or special scoring opportunities are taken. These are called special teams, though special teams is often referred to as the "kicking game". This is because special teams plays are the only time when kicking the football is appropriate.

Goal to Go When a team wins a first down within ten yards of the opponent's goal line, this is called "First Down and Goal to Go". This simply means the team has no chance of winning a new set of downs, and therefore must score within the next four plays or lose possession of the ball. Typically, on fourth down in this scenario, a team will attempt a field goal for three points. The Red Zone Anytime a team is within 20 yards of the opponent's goal line, they are said to be in the red zone. This simply means that team has a prime scoring opportunity. Even if they cannot score the touchdown, that team has a relatively simple field goal opportunity.