In America today, football is by far the most popular sport During the autumn months, It sweeps up the country's weekends beginning with National Football League's Thursday Night Football, followed by high school's Friday Night Lights, continuing with Saturday Collegiate football clashes and ends with the NFL's Sunday slate of games, and Monday Night Football. With the help of TV deals, the coverage of the game is rampant in American homes, making it easier for people to watch their favorite teams or alumni duke it out on the gridiron. As the sport rapidly grows internationally and here stateside, American football is cemented in the country's pop culture. Let's dove in to give you the 1-0-1 on the fundamentals of the game known as Football. The game is played on a grass or turf field that is 120 yards long and 53.3 yards wide. The field is flanked by "End Zones" that are ten yards long, where teams have the ability to score. The rest of the field is marked every five yards with lines and every yard with a hash mark. Behind each end zone are goal posts that are ten feet high and 18 feet, six inches wide. The game consists of a full 60 minute runtime that is split up into 15 minute, four quarters. The second and third quarter a halftime of twelve minutes is used to allow teams to regroup. Game of Play begins with a coin toss to decide who gets the ball first. Based off that decision, one team "Kicks Off" to the opposing team. The opposing teams Offensive players now has four chances, also known as "Downs", to take the ball down the field to score points or to achieve ten yards of progress from the "Line ofScrimmage" to gain another group of four downs, which is known as getting a "First Down". They do this by either "Running" the ball or "Throwing" the ball against the opposing teams Defensive players attempts to stop all four chances. To score, the offense has to take the ball into the end zone for six points, which is called a "Touchdown" or by kicking a "Field Goal" for three points. What's cool is after scoring a touchdown, the offense has the option to go for an additional points by either kicking a field goal for an extra point or to take the ball into the end zone again for two points. But what if the defense is successful in halting the offense's progression to their fourth chance or fourth down? The offense has the option to either "Punt" the ball to change the possession to the other team's offense or to go for it by either gaining a first down or to score points. So if the offense attempts to go for it and they're unsuccessful, the opposing teams Offense gains possession where the ball is placed at the fourth down attempt, which is the line of scrimmage. The defense can also change possession with a "Turnover", by either causing a "Fumble" in knocking the ball out of the hands of the offensive player running the ball or through catching a pass from the offense, which is known as an "Interception". A team can only have eleven players on the field at any time, and some players will play offense and defensive roles. In the NFL, there's a 53 player roster that consists of the Offense, Defense and Special Teams. Special teams consists of players like the Kicker and Punter, along with other purposed roles, whereas the offense and defense usually play most of the time. The Quarterback is the player that calls the plays and snaps the ball. Once the ball is in play, the quarterback can do one of three things. They can either a.) hand off the ball to the team's Running Back, whose job it is to run the ball, b.) throw it to one of the Wide Receivers whose job is running routes downfield to catch the ball, or c.) run it themselves. The quarterback won't be able to do any of these things without the Offensive Linemen in front of them. Their task is to block for the quarterback, to give them time to throw the ball or to create gaps at the line of scrimmage for the running back to run through. Who they're blocking are the Defensive Linemen whose job is to rush the quarterback by tackling them as fast as they can, which is called a "Sack". Positioned behind the defensive linemen are the Linebackers who not only rushes the quarterback as well, but are also useful in tackling the running back. The Cornerbacks are the players that guard and cover the wide receivers, but sometimes rushes the quarterback from the outside. If they do, then the Safeties will cover the wide receivers, but are typically the last line of defense. If the linemen, linebackers and cornerbacks all rush the quarterback at once, This is known as a "Blitz". When infractions or "Penalties" occur during play on either side of the ball, the consequence of the penalty is enforced on where the ball is placed on the field from the original line of scrimmage, depending on the severity of the action. Penalties can be a huge help or a crushing blow to a team and can play an integral part in the outcome of a game. The referees throw "Yellow Flags" that look like handkerchiefs to indicate the infraction. There's quite a few in the rulebook, but the most common ones you'll see in a game are: Offsides and Encroachment. When the offense and defense line up before the ball is put into play, each team can't cross the line of scrimmage. If an offensive player is beyond the line of scrimmage when the ball is put into play, it's called "Offsides". It's a five yard loss and the down is replayed. If the defense crosses the line of scrimmage and makes contact before the ball is snapped, it's called "Encroachment". The ball is advanced five yards and the down is replayed. Holding. "Holding" is essentially grabbing onto the opposing player to prevent them from tackling or who isn't the ball carrier. Both sides have differing consequences. Holding on the offense would be a ten yard loss and replay the down. Defensive holding is a five yard advance with an automatic first down. Delay of Game. The "Delay of Game"penalty is for the offense only. After the ball is set for the next play, a play clock begins to count down in order to pick up the pace of the game. In the NFL, the forty second play clock starts when the previous down is complete. The offense has to put the ball into play before the play clock runs out or call a timeout. If they fail to do so, the delay of game penalty is enforced by losing five yards and the down is replayed. Pass Interference. "Pass Interference" is a judgment call that occurs during a throwing play. It can go against the offense or the defense. or the defense before the ball arrives to the intended receiver. the defense can't make contact to restrict the player from catching the ball, and the offense can't shove the defense away to create space in catching the ball. In the NFL, if defensive pass interference is called the ball is place at the spot of the foul, which is an automatic first down. Offensive pass interference is a ten yard loss from the previous line of scrimmage, with a down being replayed. False Start. Another common one you'll see is "False Start". For the offense only, this penalty is enforced when an offensive player moves abruptly before the ball is snapped. The defense are allowed to move all the time, whereas the offense needs to be very still, unless they're in motion, when they are placed in their spot. A pesky five yard loss and a replay of the down follows. But if two penalties happen at the same time, one on the offense and the other on the defense, these penalties become "off-set" and a down will be replayed with no consequences. Kind of like a do over. If two penalties happen on the same play from the same team, than the opposing team has the choice of which one to enforce to get the better advantage. It's no easy task in refereeing a football game game, and mistakes can happen with the investment in technology. Every pro and collegiate game is recorded on camera, thus giving head coaches the ability to "Challenge" particular rulings on the field, NOT penalty calls. Whether the player caught a pass or if the player really did fumble the ball or great cases on whether a coach should throw their "Red Flag" or handkerchief to challenge the ruling. The cost of this decision is by losing one of their three timeouts. But if the ruling is overturned in their favor, a.k.a. if they were right, if they were right, the timeout is given back to the head coach. Even though the game itself is universal at every level of play, there are some minor rule differences rule differences between pro and college football here in the U.S. that are worth noting. Overtime. If the game is tied at the end of regulation, the NFL has an overtime period of ten minutes to see if either team can win. if both teams have the same score when ten minutes are up, the game is considered a tie. In college, each team has a chance to score from the 20 yard line and will continue play until one team scores more points than the other. Catch. How a "catch" is determined and how the wide receiver lands with their feet. In college, you need at least one foot touching "inbounds" that will count as a catch, whereas in the NFL you need both feet to touch. Clock. In the NFL, the clock doesn't stop after achieving a first down like it does in college. Defensive Pass Interference. As shown before, the NFL has a consequence of an automatic first down and the spot of the foul for defensive pass interference. In college, the spot of the foul is only enforced if it occurs less than 15 yards. If the penalty happened farther down the field, only a 15 yard advancement will be enforced. As summer turns into fall during the calendar year, it's hard not to notice the plethora of football teams being represented in American daily life. Tailgating in the stadium parking lots to fantasy football, the American sports tradition continues to permeate pop culture in all four corners of the country. With TV deals continuing to climb in covering the sport to families throwing the pigskin on a nice autumn breeze, the sport known as Football won't be going away any time soon. If you enjoy learning about sports or a sports related topics, please consider subscribing.