A FOOTBALL OVERVIEW

Unless you’re an experienced football enthusiast, you’ll probably have moments of confusion while watching a game. You may at times wonder who’s doing what and why they’re doing what they’re doing. And you may ask yourself what it all means. Once you have the answers to these questions, however, football is fairly easy to follow.

The game is divided into quarters, each lasting 15 minutes. After the second quarter, there’s a 15-minute break know as halftime. It allows players time to rest and gives fans a chance to get something to eat, among other activities.

A coin toss marks the beginning of a football contest. Each team selects three captains who come to the center of the field. Here, the referee holds a coin and one player from the visiting team calls heads or tails before the actual toss. If he wins, his team can then choose either to receive the kickoff or decide which goal to defend.

The kickoff is next. The team’s placekicker places the ball in a tee and kicks it toward the other team.

Once the game has started, the offense has four downs, which are essentially four plays, to go 10 yards. If the offensive team advances the ball at least 10 yards in four or fewer tries, it receives another set of four downs. If it fails to do so after three tries, it usually punts the ball on the fourth down. (A punt is a kick toward the opponent without the use of a tee.) At this point, the other team begins its own set of four downs, in the opposite direction of course.

The object os a football game is to score more points than the opponent. There are a number of ways in which to do this. A team can earn six points with a touchdown. It can gain an extra point, also known as a PAT (point after a touchdown). Or it can score a two-point conversion, which is a pass or run.

The team can also earn three points with a field goal, when a kicker kicks the ball clear through the goal post uprights and above the crossbar. A safety, worth two points, is awarded to the defensive team, along with possession of the ball, when an offensive player is tackled behind his own goal line.

Setbacks to achieving the objective of scoring winning points come in the form of penalties, or violations of the rules. Of the more than 100 kinds of penalties, the following are among the more common. (The referee uses special signals to inform everyone what infraction has occurred.)

• A 5-yard penalty gives the offended team five yards. An example of this is an illegal use of the hands.
• A 10-yard penalty costs the offending team ten yards. An example is tripping a member of either team.
• A 15-yard penalty is one of the stiffest of penalties because it costs the offending team fifteen yards. An example is unsportsmanlike conduct.

Understandably, the above is greatly condensed and simplified. But it should help you better understand and enjoy North America’s most popular sport.

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