American Football is a bit of a complex sport, but it's not too difficult to understand. I say it's complex because there is a lot of play types and strategies involved, but considering that the majority of the fan bases is fairly inebriated while following the rules, and even calling out plays, shows that it's not too difficult once you understand the goals and rules.
The overall point of American Football (From here in just called football, because 'Murica) is to reach overall total points over four 15 minute quarters. This is accomplished primarily by traversing the football ball (also called a "football") across the 100 yard field into the opposing team's goal zone, called the End Zone (I will get to the various other methods in a bit). Successfully traversing into the opposing team's End Zone, is referred to as Touchdown.
To accomplish this goal, each team is split up into three seperate teams called the Offense, the Defense, and the Special Team.
Offense.
The offense, as it's name suggests, is the team that currently has the football, and is attempting score a touchdown. The offense has 4 chances (called downs) to reach a 10 yard mark from their starting position (both the starting position and the ten yard mark are called first downs, in case this isn't confusing enough).
There are four major players (or player types) in the offensive team you should be concerned about. The Quarterback, The Runningbacks, The Receivers, and the Offensive Line.
The Quarterback is the team leader of the offense, his job is to on field decide the plays (when not decided by the coach), but their primary job is to handle the football and to pass or hand off the ball. The Quarterback is the main player that can throw a pass forward (called a forward pass (Forward passes can only be done once per play)). The Quarterback starts each play (with the word HIKE) and must either pass (throw) the ball, or hand it off. Intentionally throwing the ball to nobody to avoid being tackled (Called a Sack If and only if it is the Quarterback being tackled) this incurs a penalty (called intentional grounding). The Quarterback has one other option besides passing or handing the ball off. This is running the ball himself toward the first down mark (This is called the Quarterback Sneak), but if the Quarterback runs passed the current line where the down is on (Called the Line of Scrimmage) he can no longer perform a forward pass, or hand the ball off. He can still pass backwards (This is called Lateral Pass).
The Runningbacks are two players behind the Quarterback before the round (called a Play), and their primary job is to receive a hand off and run with the ball (This is called a Rush). Runs are extraordinary common in football, and many teams use them more often than any other play. The Runningbacks can also act as extra linemen, receivers or even a backup quarterback if need be.
The Receivers are exactly the name suggests. Their job is to run out past the opposing line and receive a forward pass and then make a run for the Endzone. There are two types of receivers, Wide Receiver in which that is their only job, and Tightends, who are kind of a hybrid between Receivers and Linemen.
The Offensive Line is a line of (usually big and burly) men, whose primary job is to protect the Quarterback before his play, and to make room in the Defensive line for a Runningback to move passed the line of Scrimmage. There is also a special position in the Center (Called... the Center) whose job is to pass the ball backward to the Quarterback at the beginning of the down (This is called a Hike). Movement before the Hike is a penalty play (Called a False Start).
There are by and large three Major Plays the offense does, these are Rushes, Passes, and Punts. A rush is when the ball is handed to a Runningback to run the ball past the Line of Scrimmage and toward First Down. A Pass where the ball is passed to a receiver and it is run from there, and a punt, in which a specialty player (called a Punter) kicks the ball toward the opposition, in hopes of pushing the ball back into Defensive Territory. The Punt is done generally on the fourth and final down to keep the opposing team from starting at the current line of scrimmage. There are also various other play types, such as faking a Rush and doing a Pass (Called a Play Action), Hiking the ball back five yards to quarterback so that he can have more time for a longer pass (Called a Hail Mary), or the Flea-Flicker where the Quarterback hands the ball to runningback, who rushes to the line and then lateral passes back to Quarterback so that he can make a pass.
Defense
Defenses job is to prevent the other team from reaching their Endzone in the long term, and in the shortterm to prevent the offensive team from reaching first down. There are three main players on Defense: the Defensive Line, The Linebackers, and the Defensive Back.
The Linebackers are defensive Rushers, they defend against rush plays, and more often than not attempt to tackle the Quarterback (This is called a Sack). The Linebacker cannot Sack the Quarterback after he has passed the Ball, or Sack him too hard (This is a penalty called Roughing the Passer) They also are the players most often to recover the ball if it is dropped (Dropping the ball - Fumble, Recovering it - a Recovery).
The Defensive Backers are the opposition to the receivers. They attempt to block passes, tackle the receiver after he has gotten the ball (they cannot tackle him before it, or too hard, these are penalty plays called Pass Interference and Unnecessary Roughness, Respectively), or receiving the ball themselves (This is called an Interception).
The Defensive Line attempts to make openings for the linebackers, as well as prevent Runningbacks from getting past the line of Scrimmage (Again, the starting line). The Defensive line, like the offensive line most be careful on where they position before the Hike (Offside) or starting before the Hike (Called Encoachment).
None of the Defense (or either team for that matter) are allowed to grab an opponent (Holding), Grab Their Facemask (a Facemask) or tackle a non-call carrying person from behind or below the way (Clipping).
There are a few defensive plays, but mostly they come down to Rushing, in which they create a "pressure" line against the offense to defend from rushing plays. Covering, in which they pressure receivers, or the Blitz, where they pull in Linebackers and Defenseive Back in order to break the line and get a Sack.
Special Teams
This team is the kicking team, who has the sole responsibility for Kick Plays. They start off each round, and each sides turn by kicking the ball across the field (This is called a Kickstart). They also are for their own scoring catagory called a Field Goal, in which they attempt to kick the ball between two yellow posts. If this happens after the Touchdown it is worth One Point, if outside the Touchdown this is worth 3. The only main player different from the others is the Kicker, who is just as his name suggest, he kicks the ball. Hitting the kicker is a Penalty.
Scoring and it's various methods.
There are by an large five ways to score in Football. The Touchdown, the Field Goal, the Two-Point Conversion, The Safety, and PAT Fieldgoal.
The Touchdown is accomplished by getting a player with the ball into the Endzone, this is worth Six Points. After a Touchdown the Offense if given on Down to successfully earn one or two more point, this is called a Points-After-Touchdown or a PAT.
A PAT Fieldgoal is a fieldgoal made after the Touchdown from the three yard line, these almost always successful and is worth One Point.
The Two Point Conversion is a rare play in which instead of doing a PAT touchdown, they rush the Endzone and land a person in the endzone, with the ball. This is worth Two Extra Points.
The Saftey is the only time the Defense can score without an Interception, this is accomplished by backing the offensive team into their own Endzone and tackling them in their own endzone. This is worth two points and is extraordinarily Rare.
A Fieldgoal is a last ditch to get a point. Usually done on Fourth and Final Down within range, the kicker will attempt to kick the ball between the goal posts. This can be done from any part of the field, but is rare past the 40 yard line. This is worth 3 Points.
Penalties
I mentioned several penalties in this overview, and each one of these is accompanied by a punishment of Yards and/or Downs. If the offense does a penalty, they are pushed back at least five yards from their First Down Line and told to continue on their current down. If the Defense performs a Penalty, the Offense gets to move at least 5 yards toward the opposing Endzone and usually get a First Down. The offended team gets the oppurtunity to take or deny a penalty, and while it might seem weird, sometimes it's better to deny the penalty. Very Rarely a Penalty can be that the ball is tranferred over to the other team, this is reserved for serious penalties.
A Typical Game
A Typical game begins with the Kicker, kicking off the ball down the field where the opposing team can catch and run with the ball, or allow the ball to enter into their endzone or in the sidelines (out of bounds) in noone catches the ball and it is in the endzone they start at their twenty Yardline. The Offensive Team then goes out and huddles for a moment. They have 25 seconds from huddle to hike ort they get a Delay of game. They will try to approach the opposing Endzone for three downs and on the fourth down, if they have not gotten ten yards and started another first down, they will either kick a fieldgoal or punt. It is very rare that they will risk a play on fourth down, but not unheard of. After the punt the other team takes over and this continues until one of the team scores. This process then repeats over and over, stopping at Halftime, where no matter where they were on the field before, they will begin this process again.
A Little Terminology
I've been trying to give some termonology so you can undersnd what the announcers are talking about. Here's a couple of other things for this purpose.
They're X and X - Often you'll hear that they are something like 6 and 3rd. This means how far they are from their first down line, or the Endzone, and what down it currently is.
Putting some pressure on him - This means that the defense is doing a Rush.
Madden - John Madden is a shockingly entertaining crazy man announcer. And he accomplishes this purely unintentionally. He's an icon in football, but mostly because listening to him makes no goddamn sense.
Well I hope this helps. Just watch it some more and you'll get more used to this weird game with it's weird rules.
DFTBA
