American Football / Useful Notes - TV Tropes
On any given Sunday.
Aeryn Sun: I'm sure your world has no force so ruthless, so disciplined.
John: Oh, we call 'em linebackers, or serial killers. Depends on whether they're professional or amateur.
— Farscape , "Exodus from Genesis"
American Football is perhaps the most popular sport in America. This guide intends to inform you about your favorite Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (and occasionally Tuesday and Wednesdaynote especially if you follow the Mid-American Conference ) pastime, assuming you live in America . If you'd like to know more about college football, then please check out the corresponding notes page .
High school, college, and professional football
Alright, so first off, there are three major tiers of football: high-school football, college football, and professional football (the National Football League ). High schools draw players from their general student bodies. During their senior years, especially talented high-school football players sign letters of intent to play for various college programs. This is known as National Signing Day, and is a big event for college television networks such as ESPNU . College players must be enrolled and take classes at the college in question; they can be granted scholarships but not directly paid. After their collegiate career is completed (and they've proven themselves on field), then they'll usually declare for the NFL Draft, which occurs early in April.
High schools usually play football on Saturday afternoons or Friday evenings (hence Friday Night Lights ) during the fall semester, and are governed by state-level athletic associations. They are divided into tiers based on school size and athletic program quality, and sometimes into regional divisions as well. There may be separate organizations for public and private schools, or they may all play together; there may be a statewide championship tournament or only regional titles within a state, with any championship game usually played at either the state's largest university stadium, a professional stadium or whichever adequately large stadium is most centrally located. There is no national high school football championship; there are altogether too many high schools for this to work, never mind added expense. Unofficial championships are given out by media organizations such as USA Today or sites devoted solely to high school sports via polling, but are subject to opinion. Despite high school football being organized on a state basis, there are sometimes individual cross-state games during a regular season, and a high school located near a state border might even have an established rivalry with a school in the neighboring state. These are very much the exception, though, and can be complicated by the fact that different states have slight differences in the rules.
The most talented high school athletes are offered scholarships to play football at the various universities that play football. Unlike the other major American sports leagues, the NFL will not allow a player to participate in the Draft or sign with a team until he's been out of high school for at least three years (more in some cases) or earned a degree from a recognized university. As a result, college teams are the primary method of training and refining young players, and teenage hotshots are exceedingly rare.
There are numerous tiers of collegiate football in the United States, stretching across two organizations - the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the smaller National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) - with at least 5 recognized national championship systems. The top division of the NCAA is split into two separate subdivisions, called Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Generally, the term 'college football' in the United States refers to teams in the FBS, which is the highest tier.
The FBS is split into numerous 'conferences' which are equivalent to leagues in their own right, crowning their own champions. These are subdivided into two types:
"Power Five" or "Big Five" ï¿½ The richest and most competitive leaguesï¿½the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 ( not "Pacific-12" ), and Southeastern Conference (SEC). The University of Notre Dame is also counted among the "Power Five". note Although it is not a member of any football conference, it is an ACC member in other sports, and has an agreement to play five of its 12 regular-season games against other ACC schools. These conferences receive automatic spots in the so-called "New Year's Six", the top tier of bowl games that includes the two semifinal games of the College Football Playoff (CFP) that began in 2014. Notre Dame does not have an automatic spot in any "New Year's Six" game, but does get special consideration (namely, when it doesn't make a semifinal, it's part of the shortlist for one of the other three or four games, depending on the season).
"Group of Five" (also called "mid-majors") ï¿½ The other five FBS conferences: the American Athletic Conference (The American), Conference USA (C-USA), Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West (MW), and Sun Belt. The other three independents ( Army , BYU , UMass) also fall in this group.
The CFP is a four-team tournament whose participants are chosen by a 13-member selection committee (oddly, twice as large as the one that selects the 68-team playoff for college men's basketball). It and the rest of the "New Year's Six" replaced the former Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which operated from 1998 to 2013. Six bowl games rotate CFP semifinal games on a three-year cycle, with the following pairings: Rose Bowl/Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl/Cotton Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl/Peach Bowl.
In seasons when a "New Year's Six" game is not hosting a national semifinal game, the highest-ranked teams not involved in the CFP will go to the following bowls:
The top Big 12 and SEC teams go to the Sugar Bowl.note In the BCS era, the Big 12 was tied to the Fiesta Bowl. The SEC has a decades-long link with the Sugar Bowl.
The top ACC team goes to the Orange Bowl. The second Orange Bowl berth will go the second-best available team from the SEC or Big Ten, or Notre Dame.
The top Big 10 and Pac-12 teams go to the most prestigious regular bowl, the Rose Bowl.
The participants in the other three games (Cotton, Fiesta, Peach) are based on rankings by the CFP selection committee. One spot in these games is reserved for the highest-ranked champion of a "Group of Five" conference.
The final CFP game is the College Football Playoff National Championship, featuring the winners of the two semifinal games, whose winner is declared national champion by everyone... except the NCAA itself. Even though the NCAA lists claimed football national championships in its record books, it has never awarded an official national championship in FBS or its predecessors. Since the TV deal has been signed through the 2025 season, it will be a while until the possibility of expanding the playoff to 8 or 16 teams is considered.
In terms of TV, a football game equals guaranteed high ratings . Any professional football game is almost guaranteed to be the most-watched program of the day, and the Super Bowl almost always is the most-watched program of the year. Several Super Bowls are among the highest-rated programs of all time, and Super Bowl XLIV unseated the series finale of Mash as the most-watched program in American history.note ...and was itself unseated by Super Bowl XLV the following year.
But enough organizational stuff. Here's the rules and positions.
Rules of play
The Field
Football is played on a rectangular field of 120 yards note A yard is exactly .9144 meters for you metric folks in length (marked by end lines) and 53.3 yards note Which makes a little more sense when you know that's 160 feet. Its also 48.7 meters. in width (marked by sidelines). Obviously, anything happening outside of this boxed area is considered to be out-of-bounds. Less obviously, and in contrast to association football/soccer , on the line is out of bounds.
The first 10 yards of field measured from either end line are the end zones, their boundaries marked by goal lines. These are the primary scoring areas during a game, and are legally in-bounds for plays.
The remaining 100 yards of the field is divided like a giant ruler by various markings:
Yard lines run the entire width of the field. Yard lines are placed in 5-yard increments.
Each 10 yard mark is visibly numbered up to the 50-yard line, which denotes the middle of the field.
Smaller rows of 2' long markings known as hash marks are placed just inside the sidelines to denote each individual yard on the field for more precise measuring.
A second set of hash marks also appears further inside each sideline to denote the area of the field where the ball can be placed before play commences.note The distance from the sideline to the nearest set of hashmarks differs according to the level of play. In high school football, the distance is exactly 53 feet, 4 inches, which means that the hash marks divide the field into thirds. In college football, the distance is 60 feet. In the NFL, the distance is exactly 70 feet, 9 inches; putting it another way, the hash marks are precisely in line with the goal posts.
Since all of these field markings tend to create a lattice-like appearance, a football field is colloquially known as the "Gridiron".note In the early years of American football, the field was marked into small rectangles, making the "gridiron" analogy even more apparent. See this diagram
◊
, copied from a 1905 book on the sport.
Finally, the goalposts, upright goals that figure into certain scoring plays described below, are placed on the end lines at the back of each end zone. On the professional level, the goal posts are 18 feet 6 inches (5.64 m) apart and connected by a lower crossbar that stands 10 feet (3.05 m) off the ground.
Plays and play styles
The fundamental unit of football is the "play": particular pre-planned and practiced strategic formations and drills designed to counter defensive strategies or exploit a particular situation or team strength. It is impossible within this article to cover the sheer variety of possible strategies , but on offense the basics break down to three fairly simple categories: run, pass, and kick
Running plays involve the quarterback running or delivering the ball to one of the five eligible receivers without throwing the ball forward, with the intent to move the ball forward.
Passing plays involve the quarterback throwing forward to one of the five eligible receivers. Note that a forward pass can be caught behind the line of scrimmage as long as the ball moved forward from the passer's current position, and that a handoff or pitch can be completed in front of the line of scrimmage as long as the ball moves laterally or backwards. Attempting to throw or hand the ball forward from beyond the line of scrimmage is illegal, as is throwing the ball forward more than once per down, or the defense throwing the ball forward for any reason. Backward and lateral passes, however, are always legal.
Kicking, discussed further below, is typically a last resort option, as it always ends a teams possession of the ball, barring a fluke mistake by the opposing team allowing the ball to be recovered.
Downs
When a team has the ball they are given four tries, called "downs", to move the ball ten yards towards the end zone (goal) they're facing. If that team can do so, then they replenish their four downs to move the ball another ten yards. As long as a team retains possession of the ball, and moves it another 10 yards within the four down limit each time, they may continue to ratchet their way across the field for as long as it takes to reach the other side. note The maximum number of times this can actually repeat in practice is ten times, starting at one end of the field and ending at the other. If less than 10 yards remain to the goal, the team with the ball must score within their 4 downs or they will likewise lose possession. If at any time they fail to move the ball 10 yards forward within their four downs, the other team gets possession of the ball, starting from the spot the last down ended at.
If a team reaches fourth down and has yet to move the ball ten yards and get a new first down (also referred to as "converting"), they have three options:
The quarterback may kick the ball as far downfield as possible (called a "punt") so that the opposing team will have further to travel in order to score on their ensuing possession. (The players doing the actual punting, while technically the quarterback on the play, are often a specialist called the punter, especially at higher levels. However, some players - including still active players in the NFL - do sometimes punt and sometimes throw passes, example Ben Roethlisberger, starting Quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2004 has kicked a couple of punts, mostly on third down to catch the defense off-guard. Most of the time on third down and too long to make a new first down a low risk run will be called to give the punter more room, sometimes high risk passes to achieve the first down will be attempted. So nobody is going to be prepared for a punt, so a halfway decent punter can pin the opposing side down deep in their own territory mostly as a "trick play" that works mostly because it is so rare)
The team may also elect to swap in their kicker, and attempt a field goal (three points) if they are within range to do so.
Finally, the team also has the option of attempting to gain the necessary yardage on the fourth down. This is known as "going for it." However, as this risks the other team gaining an advantage if you fail, it's usually not done unless the situation is especially desperate, or the team feels like tempting fate.
In rare cases, a team will elect to Take The Fourth Option , and run a Kansas City Shuffle style play. This is where football begins to show its strategic elements and deep Meta Game .
For instance, the kicker may be brought on and the kicking formation taken, leading the opposing team to swap in players suited for receiving the ball rather than defending...only for the quarterback to then attempt to force the ball through the opposing team's weakened and scattered defense anticipating a ball falling from the sky in the backfield, not running on the ground through them.
A quarterback who is also good at kicking may fake going for it, only to punt a few steps into a run. This is referred to as a "pooch punt."
A kicker who also plays another offensive position can be an extreme wild card, allowing a true, deep field kick to be snuck in at any time with a little subtle shifting of formation. These players are rare however; as a general rule kickers tend to be Glass Cannons with Crippling Overspecialization in kicking the ball really far- thus making this even more of a Mind Screw for the opposing team when it happens.
The Clock
The game clock in football is an interesting object unto itself, with arcane rules governing the stopping and starting of counted time. Suffice it to say that "clock management" is a vital part of football strategy, and that a good coach will employ truly Munchkin-worthy MetaGaming to bend these time warping powers to their advantage.
If a play ends on an incomplete pass, with a player running out of bounds, a penalty, a score, or a turnover, the clock will stop. If a play ends with a player being tackled inbounds, then the clock continues running. Each team also gets three timeouts per half. There are other times the game clock will stop, depending on level of competition, sanctioning body, and television considerations, but they are too numerous and complicated to explain here. There are numerous ways that teams will try to run off as much clock time as they can when they hold the lead or conversely stop the clock to get more time if they are behind.
To add to the complexity, there is also a "play clock" in effect, the offensive team has a set amount of time after their last play has ended to start their next one. On the professional level, teams have 40 seconds timed from the end of the previous play, or 25 seconds after the ball is declared ready for play by officials. Letting the play clock run out will result in a delay of game penalty... which stops the main clock.
This is why American football games, even though they only have an hour of play per game, tend to actually last for 2-3 hours.
Scoring
The typical ways to score are (see the terms section below for further details)
Touchdown: The primary form of scoring in football. Occurs when a team advances the ball beyond its opponent's goal line. They are worth 6 points. The ball itself only has to partially pass over a yard mark or goal line while in the possession of a player to be counted; this is referred to as the ball 'breaking the plane' of the line in question. As a general rule: forward advancement is marked where the ball is located, whereas determining play laterally is based on the body of the player possessing the ball. A player doesn't have to be in the endzone at all for a touchdown, just in possession of the ball as it's breaking the plane of the goal-line.note In contrast, however, a player is out-of-bounds once he steps over a marked sideline, regardless of where the ball was located.
Conversion: After scoring a touchdown, a team receives one additional, untimed down in which they can attempt to score at one-third the normal value. This is formally known as a "try" (though the term is exceedingly rarely used), and a successful score is known as "converting the try", or just a "conversion". The ball is placed two or three yards from the defending team's goal line and the scoring team attempts one of two possible plays:
Point After Touchdown, or PAT: Attempt a placekick or dropkicknote dropping the ball to the ground and kicking it after it has touched the ground, but don't be surprised if you've never seen a dropkick PAT attempted; the technique fell into disuse decades ago, though Doug Flutie did successfully use one on a PAT in 2006. through the upright goal at the back of the end zone for one extra point. As such, it's often simply called "the extra point". The defense will attempt to block the PAT kick, but it is extremely difficult to do so. It is also possible for the kicker to miss the PAT, but due to the very short range required, this is likewise infrequent. Teams will opt for a PAT kick the vast majority of the time, thus a "touchdown" usually entails scoring 7 points total. Over the years, the PAT has become such a matter of routine that attempts have been made on the organizational level to increase the difficulty. In 2015, the NFL moved the line of scrimmage for kick attempts to the 15-yard line (among other things, making blocks more likely), and in the first season of the change, the league's success rate dropped from over 99% to a hair over 94%. That may not sound like a big changeï¿½but the last time the success rate on PAT kicks was this low was in 1982. Additionally, blocked attempts are now live balls, allowing more scoring possibilities. See below.
Two-point conversion: Make a single offensive play 3 yards away (2 yards in NFL) from the end zone. Reaching the end zone gives another two points (for a total of 8). In the event of a turnover, the play ends in high school football, except in Massachusetts and Texas, where the base rule set is that of the NCAA (college). In college, and since the 2015 season the NFL as well, the defender can score two points for his team if he carries it ALL the way back to the other end zone. Very rareï¿½it requires a fumble or an interception followed by a roughly 100-yard dash, carrying the ball with 11 angry men in pursuit. Although some teams have very high two-point conversion success rates, the general success rate is 40-55%, compared to the PAT's success rate of 98-99% in college and 95% in the NFL. As a result, teams rarely try for a two-point conversion, unless they are coming back from a large deficit, they can gain some strategic advantage late in the game, or they want to go for a win in regulation . At the high school level and below, the two-point conversion is more common, because some teams simply don't have anybody who can kick with even marginal accuracy. It's basically unheard of for any college team, and completely unheard of for any professional team, to lack a kicker who can reliably kick the PAT. With blocked PAT attempts now being live in the NFL, it's possible for a fouled up kick attempt to be turned into a 2-point conversion if the blocked ball is recovered by the kicking team, or run back for by the defense for 2 points like a turnover.
Field Goal: Kick the ball through the upright goal placed past the opponent's end-zone for 3 points. Used instead of a punt if the team thinks they're close enough to make it (or desperate).note  The longest successful Field Goal in professional football is 64 yards, by Matt Prater of the Denver Broncos. This is generally considered outside the range of the average kicker, making it quite a feat. Like a PAT kick, the defense will contest the kick (attempt to block it), and it can be caught on the fly or recovered like a live fumble if it is blocked backwards at the line of scrimmage. Unlike a punt, a missed field goal gives the opponents the ball from the spot of the kick, making it risky at long range. Another consideration is that long field goals that don't leave the field of play can be returned like punts. Perhaps the most famous recent example of this was Auburn's walk-off touchdown
in the 2013 Iron Bowl (Alabamaï¿½Auburn rivalry game). Despite the risk, some teams will still focus their entire strategy around simply getting their kicker in range as quickly and as often as possible while preventing their opponent from scoring touchdowns, with any touchdowns of their own being welcome surprises. This can be an extremely hard to counter strategy with a well assembled team, but can quickly fall apart if the kicker is having an off day.
Although exceedingly rare, it is also possible to score a field goal during any play by dropkick as well. Due to football's rules of possession, however, it is generally tactically unsound to use this technique. Additionally, the shape of the ball itself makes this much more difficult than in rugby where the drop kick rules originated. There has been only one successful drop kick in the NFL since World War IIï¿½longtime CFL and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie successfully drop-kicked a conversion in his final NFL game in 2006.
Also exceedingly rare, a field goal can be opted for from the spot of a fair catch on a punt, which is called a "fair catch kick". Line-up rules are similar to a "free kick" (see safety below), but someone can hold the ball like a field goal or PAT attempt. This rule exists in the NFL (where it hasn't succeeded since 1976, and has only been attempted seven times since then) and high school, but not in college.
The ball can touch any part of the 2 uprights and lower crossbar that form the goalpost on a field goal kick, as long as it passes over and through them before hitting the ground. This has led to several improbable heart-stopping situations where a kicked ball has the range to reach the goal, but due to its shape and unpredictable bouncing tendencies, will carom off one, two, or all three of the bars before it manages to go through or fall out unscored.
Safety: A somewhat rare but humiliating situation where an offensive player has possession of the ball in his own end zone and is either tackled, steps out-of-bounds, accidentally or purposefully hikes the ball past the back line of the end zone (this happened to Peyton Manning when his center hiked the ball too high on the opening play of Super Bowl XLVIII), or another offensive player commits a penalty while trying to prevent either from happening. The defensive team scores 2 points and gets the ball (the safetied team kicks the ball to them).This situation is technically called a "free kick", as is the kickoff after a touchdown or field goal. However, the free kick following a safety has one major difference from other free kicks: After a touchdown or field goal, the ball must be kicked off a tee (sometimes, if winds are high enough, another player will have to hold the ball on the tee). After a safety, the kicker may either kick from a tee or punt, beginning with the ball in his hands. Most free kicks after safeties are punts because their higher trajectory allows better coverage for the kicking team.note For fans of soccer, this is basically the same thing as an own goal, only not quite as humiliating. Except when it's an accidental safety (as in an inattentive quarterback steps out of bounds in the end zone on his own rather than being tackled or forced out by the defense). Dan Orlovsky infamously did this while playing for the Detroit Lions in their 0-16 2008 season, in a game that was ultimately lost by 2 points. That is as humiliating as an own goal.
In certain rare situations, a team may intentionally allow a safety to be scored. This may be done for a variety of reasons:
To gain field position (by kicking off from the 20-yard line rather than punting from the end zone),
To manage the game clock (by running out the last few seconds of the game, as happened in Super Bowl XLVII), or
To prevent something worse from happening (the offense loses control of the ball in its own end zone, then downs the ball or swats it out of bounds to prevent the defense from taking possession and scoring a touchdown)
However, safeties are more often the result of an offensive failure or a player getting confused and running the wrong way with the ball . Only a few safeties are seen each season, and intentional safeties only occur once every few years; they are far more common in Canadian football, where field position is more important (since in Canadian ball a team gets three downs rather than four and many more points are scored in general).
Then there's the extremely strange one-point safety
. This is possible if a team tries for a two point conversion, drops the ball and the defending team knocks the ball out of the end zone (presumably to prevent the offense from picking up the ball in the end-zone for two points). It's also possible if the defending team blocks a PAT, recovers it, and then either fumbles through the end zone or gets tackled after backing up into it. This has happened twice in Division I play, the most recent time (the 2013 Fiesta Bowl) resulting in the referee beginning his announcement of the result with "On the previous play, we have an unusual ruling," correctly judging that he was one of the few people familiar with the rule. This became possible in the NFL only in 2015. It is also now theoretically possible for a the kicking team to give up a safety for one point as well, but such a play would require an extremely unlikely set of circumstances, such as a blocked PAT being recovered by the defense, run back to near the opposing endzone, only for a fumble to happen, then be recovered by the kicking team, only for the kicking team player to be tackled in their own endzone. This is the only way (except for a forfeit) for a team to have a total score of 1 point, as all other plays worth one point award the point to a team that has already scored a touchdown.
In the very, very rare event of a forfeit where the game is never played, the score is officially 1-0.
Quarters and overtime
The length of quarters and overtime format differ depending on level, but typically a football game consists of four 15-minute quarters with an option for overtime if both teams are tied at the end of regulation. In college, overtime consists of the teams taking turns having possessions; if one team is ahead after both have had a possession, they win, otherwise they take another set of turns. In the NFL, overtime is a sudden-death quarter, beginning with another coin toss. The first team to score wins the game; the exception is that if the first team to get the ball only gets a field goal, the other team gets one possession to keep the game tied or take the lead, or else they lose. Excepting playoff games, a tie is possible if the score remains tied at the end of overtime, but this is rare, happening about once a season. Before the 2012 season added the "first-possession field goal doesn't win" rule to regular-season games (it had previously been added in the 2010 season for postseason games), it was even rarer; the last two tied games before the rule change had a six-year gap between them, and because of the rules differences between NFL and college, even some of the players didn't know a tie game was possible.
When games are broadcast on television, a 3-hour block of time is customarily allocated to allow for the various delays. Sometimes, when a game is particularly hard-fought, and especially when one team is trying to slow down the game clock as much as possible to buy time, the game can even run over 3 hours in "regulation" (the basic 60-minute period). This can occasionally cause problems when the game is broadcast on TV; in one infamous incident in 1968, NBC cut away from an American Football League rivalry game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets at the end of the three-hour block to run a children's movie ("Heidi"), notwithstanding that the game was still in progress.note  Today this sounds like a stupid reason to pre-empt a football game, but it was a different time. Football was still something of a niche sport, while "Heidi" was a major ratings draw for NBC. The network aired "Heidi" just once a year; since there were three networks and no such thing as home video, families had planned their evening around the film, because this was their only chance to see it all year. The Raiders scored two touchdowns in the final minute to earn the victory, but viewers in the eastern half of the country were left in the dark. The resulting uproar from enraged football fans, which would put many instances of Internet Backdraft to shame, resulted in new policies being adopted. Nowadays, a network will never cut away from a game before it is finished. Unless a major breaking-news event like an assassination or a war beginning happens, TV viewers will see the entire game. (We've since learned that fans watching the "Heidi Game", anticipating that the game could be interrupted, called NBC en masse before the movie was due to start. NBC executives felt likewise and made a late decision to postpone the film, but couldn't contact the broadcast control room to deliver their orders because fans had jammed the phone lines .)
Positions and formations
The intricate system of player positions and play formations are the heart of football's deceptive complexity. The closest equivalent it has in any other game are the rules for unit deployment in your typical Warhammer 40k style War Game .
Each football team consists of anywhere from 40 to 80 players, depending on the level of competition. At any given time, 11 of these players are on the field. The team that is trying to score is the offense. The team that is trying to keep the offense from scoring is the defense. Unlike some other sports, American football allows players to be substituted in and out of the game freely, but only between plays. Additionally, all possible position types do not need to be, and in fact cannot be, filled at all times. This means that most players play only on offense or only on defense and some may only see a handful of special-situation plays per game.
Here's a breakdown of each position
    open/close all folders 
     Offense 
Quarterback: This player will touch the ball on nearly every offensive play. The role of the quarterback is to hand off the ball to an eligible receiver or pass the ball. Occasionally, the quarterback will run with the ball himself; some offensive systems use quarterback runs more than others. The mobile quarterback has become more prevalent in the NFL in recent years, but has been a staple of the high school and college game for decades. At the beginning of the play, the quarterback stands either directly under (behind) the center (a quarter of the way back from the offensive line, relative to the rest of the formation, hence the name quarterback), or seven yards behind the center. The latter formation is called "shotgun." A variation of the shotgun formation where the quarterback lines up 4 yards from the center and a running back is directly behind him is called the "pistol." As a result of nearly always being the preeminent decision-making player on a team's offense (the recent "Wildcat" formation notwithstanding), a quarterback is usually considered The Ace in the popular consciousness, and "QBs" generally receive an out-sized portion of attention from the media and fans. This is good news for the quarterback when the team is winning. It is bad news when the team is not. The all-time leading passer in NFL history is Peyton Manning . He played most of his career with the Indianapolis Colts, then finished his career with the Denver Broncos and retired in 2016 after winning Super Bowl 50, his second Super Bowl win.
The running backs, often subdivided further into halfback, or tailback and fullback roles (while they remain distinct roles, the names no longer accurately describe the differences ). The halfback is usually the team's primary rusher - in other words, most of the team's running plays will involve him in some way. As such, he's usually the more agile of the two backs. Halfbacks are also expected to block on passing plays and occasionally act as a receiver. The fullback is typically larger and is primarily used for blocking and short-range pass catching, but will run occasionally, especially when only a few yards are needed. Both can also be used as targets in the passing game. The fullback will usually (ironically) line up behind the quarterback, with the halfback behind him. Running backs of any type tend to have shorter careers than quarterbacks and wide receivers, as the position is physically demanding and more prone to injuries - as a result, it is becoming more common for teams to rotate and make liberal use of two and sometimes three different running backs. At the professional level, it is becoming less common for teams to have a dedicated fullback on the roster, such teams often substituting another halfback or a tight end to assume the roll of fullback on the handful of plays that might require one. The all-time leading rusher in the NFL is Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals. Notable halfbacks of the past include LaDainian Tomlinson, Walter Payton, and Barry Sanders. Current stars at the position include Adrian Peterson (a Jack-of-All-Stats that has been at or near the top of the rushing leaderboard nearly every season of his career, and in the 2012 season came just barely short of the setting the single-season NFL rushing record despite having ACL surgery, which usually puts a player on the shelf for a year or more, less than 8 months prior to the start of the season), Chris Johnson (had a 2,000-yard rushing season a few years ago, but has also showed signs of being a Fragile Speedster , and Maurice Jones-Drew, famous for his production and durability in relation to his height - or lack thereof, standing at just over 5'6". Notable fullbacks in football history include Jim Brown (although he was primarily a running fullback, with minimal blocking duties), Mike Alstott, Lorenzo Neal, and Daryl Johnston.
The wide receivers are the primary targets in the passing game. Before the play starts, they usually stand at the line of scrimmage a good distance away from ("wide" of) the nearest offensive tackle. Most offensive formations include at least two of them on the field; some will feature as many as five. Their job is to catch the ball or block for a running back. The all-time leading receiver in the NFL is Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, and Denver Broncos (his records include most career receiving yards, most career catches, most career all-purpose yards and most career touchdown catches).
Wide receiver, by virtue of its role in the offense, has a number of current and former stars - included in the most consistent high-level performers of today are the current most single-season yards record holder Calvin Johnson, whose size (6'6", 230+), speed (can run 40 yards in under 4.4 seconds) and leaping ability make him an almost-literal Real Life Game Breaker (to the point that his nickname is actually Megatron ), who in 2012 came just shy of 2,000 receiving yards and broke Jerry Rice's single-season record; Andre Johnson, who has put up nearly equally insane statistics while being a prime target on a largely mediocre team for his entire career; and Larry Fitzgerald.
The offensive line consists of five players: one center (the center of the line, expected to assign blocking schemes to the rest of the line and usually snaps the ball to the quarterback), two guards (who line up to either side of the center), and two tackles (who line up to either side of the guards). Their job is to block for the offensive backs - in other words, prevent the other defense from getting to the backs. This includes both pass blocking by simply diverting the defense from reaching the quarterback, and run blocking, where the linemen actively create running routes for the backs. The backs include anyone behind the line of scrimmage at the beginning of the play and usually include the quarterback, between zero and three running backs, and a tight end or wide receiver (there must be seven players on and four players behind the line for an offensive formation to be legal). The center's job is also to snap the ball to the quarterback. Offensive linemen are ineligible to touch a forward pass before another member of the offense or defense and cannot move more than five yards beyond the line of scrimmage (in the NFL they may not move past the "neutral zone", area defined by the distance between the tips of the ball before the ball is snapped) before the ball passes them (unless the offensive team publicly declares otherwise). Offensive linemen generally only touch the ball on fumbles, but there are a very few plays that have a tackle as an eligible receiver. Probably the best known center in recent years is Jeff Saturday, who retired after the 2012 season; he spent most of his career snapping the ball to Peyton Manning for the Indianapolis Colts and played his final season with the Green Bay Packers. The Carolina Panthers' Michael Oher, of The Blind Side fame, is an offensive lineman (the term "the blind side", in football, refers to the side of the field that the quarterback is not facing when he turns to make a pass or a handoff; thus the offensive line position protecting that side - generally the tackle, Oher's position - is key to a successful offensive line.) In most cases (including Oher's) it's the the left tackle who plays this key role, as most quarterbacks (as with most of the general population) are right-handed (notable exceptions to that rule include Michael Vick and Tim Tebow.)
The tight end usually lines up alongside or offset from the offensive line (in other words, they line up tight on the ends of the offensive line). Tight ends are often used to block and were originally intended solely for that role, but are eligible receivers and most passing plays are now designed with the tight end as an option. Any given play may have anywhere from 0 to 4 tight ends. Some famous recent tight ends are Shannon Sharpe, Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten (currently the top all-time receiver, in terms of number of catches, from the Dallas Cowboys, beating out all the actual wide receivers), Antonio Gates, and Rob Gronkowski, who in 2011 obliterated virtually every single season record ever posted at the position.
There is also an increasing trend of using H-backs (hybrid-back), players who can both fill the tight end and fullback roles. (An H-Back is more of a skill set rather than a designated position. During any given play an H-Back will act as either a full back or a tight end though due to pre-snap motion their role on the given play may be faked to the opposing defense) Chris Cooley, formerly of the Washington Redskins, was a prototypical H-back.
     Defense 
note Technically, there are no officially required positions, or for that matter formations, on the defensive side as there are on the offensive. The position names have simply developed through the years to describe the most efficient methods thus far found to succeed at their task of preventing the offense from scoring.
The defensive line consists of between two and five linemen, depending on what package is being used. Most defensive packages use three or four: one or two tackles in the middle and two ends. Their goal is primarily to muck up whatever the offensive line is trying to do: If they're trying to clear a hole for a run, it's their job to plug it and if possible tackle the runner. If they're trying to protect the quarterback, it's the D-Line's job to get past them and, if possible, sack the quarterback. Alternatively, the defensive line can be used to open up holes in the offensive line to allow other defensive players like linebackers and safeties to have a run at the quarterback or running back. In a 3-4 defense (when there are only 3 linemen), the single tackle is known as the "nose tackle" and lines up directly in front of the center, whose typical job is to drive the center back into the quarterback. A good nose tackle is a top commodity, as they need to be both big and fast . Some recent famous defensive linemen are Michael Strahan, Jared Allen, Dwight Freeney, Ndamukong Suh, and J.J. Watt.
The linebackers are two to four players who line up behind the defensive linemen (named because they back the defensive line). Linebackers are generally the most versatile players on the defense and can be used to rush the quarterback, support the run defense, or cover slower receivers like backs or tight ends. Typically, a middle linebacker is the play caller for the defense (sometimes called the "quarterback of the defense", not to be confused with a seventh defensive back in the "quarter" package; see below), as this position has a good view of the offense's formation and his location at the center of the defensive formation makes it easier for all the other defenders to hear him. The linebackers are known informally as the Mike (and Moe or Jack in a four-backer set) for inside linebackers and Will and Sam for the weak side and strong side (the side of the offensive line with the tight end) linebackers. The second number in the common naming system for defense (ex: 4-3 has 4 defensive linemen and 3 linebackers, while the 3-4 has 3 and 4, respectively.) Among the best recent linebackers in football are Ray Lewis, Patrick Willis, Brian Urlacher, DeMarcus Ware, and James Harrison. Both Dick Butkus and Lawrence Taylor, often considered in lists of "top defensive player of all-time" (or even "top player of all-time"), were linebackers.
Defensive backs: There are usually four or five backs on the field for most plays, though defense packages exist that include as many as seven. The four that are on the field at most times include two cornerbacks (line up on the outsides or corners of the defense, usually against the top two wide receivers), a strong safety (who lines up on the same side as the offense's tight end - hence its "strong" side), and a free safety. The defensive backs collectively are often referred to as the secondary. Their job is primarily to cover wide receivers and stop the pass, but they will occasionally be used to assist in the pass rush or run defense. The fifth defensive back in a play that uses them is referred to as the "nickel" back (because he would be the fifth defensive back on the field), the sixth is called the "dime", and the seventh is a "quarter" (which may cause some confusion). Some excellent defensive backs of the recent past include Deion Sanders, Charles Woodson, Darrelle Revis, and Richard Sherman.
     Special Teams 
The placekicker attempts to kick field goals and extra points, for which the ball is snapped to another offensive player who then holds it to the ground (places it) for the kicker (unless the kicker is named Charlie Brown ). Some teams employ two kickers, in which case one handles the above duties and one is a kickoff specialist who kicks the ball off of a tee to the other team at the start of play and after scores. Most teams have one kicker who handles both duties due to limited roster space. (A few teams have the punter double as the kickoff specialist instead of the placekicker.) Traditionally, holding the kick was the job of the starting quarterback, but this has changed in recent years (Tony Romo of the Cowboys is one of the few starting QB's who still does this) and it is most typically the backup quarterback, or more often the punter, who handles the placementnote this is due to practicalities of the practice schedule and roster rules. Because playbooks are so large in the NFL both the starting quarterback and backup quarterback are required to study and practice the plays the offense will be running during the game. If there is a third quarterback on the team he cannot take the field unless the starter and backup have both been ruled ineligible (injured or unable to play) for the remainder of the game. This makes it impractical to have the quarterback-skilled player receiving the snap and there is a small danger involved in handling the snaps if the QB's hand accidentally gets kicked. Finally, the special teams players are usually left to their own to practice kicks so the punter gets the most practice in holding the football for placekicks The most accurate kicker in NFL history is a tie between Nate Kaeding of the San Diego Chargers and Mike Vanderjagt of the Indianapolis Colts. Kickers are known for longevity; since they get defensively hit on plays only maybe about a few times a year they can go deep into their forties before retirement; Morten Andersen didn't retire until he was age 48 .
The punter is used when one team wishes to trade a change of possession for improved field position. The punter receives the snap himself and kicks the ball (without letting it touch the ground) toward the other team's defended goal. While the kicking team can recover a kickoff without the receiving team touching the ball, the kicking team cannot recover a punt without an error on the part of the receiving team; if the punted ball touches any member of the receiving team and is not held onto, it is counted as a fumble (even if never touched the hands of the receiving player, which on rare occasions results in an amusing event like the ball bouncing off a receiving player's helmet and into the hands of a kicking-team player). While rare, sometimes the same player acts as both the placekicker and the punter. Like placekickers, punters tend to have long careers, as they're rarely hit. The punter with the longest average in NFL history is Shane Lechler of the Oakland Raiders. While it's become significantly less common, quarterbacks still will sometimes be called on to punt; this is known as a "quick kick". In the modern game, this is a mild form of trick play in which the team fakes going for it on fourth down, then the quarterback punts the ball away with nobody deep to return it.
Most teams also employ a long snapper who handles snapping duties for placekicks and punts, due to long snaps being different enough from standard shotgun snaps to be difficult for centers. He's the football version of Nobody Loves the Bassist . Most fans don't know that most teams use a specialized long snapper - and if they do, they probably can't name one who hasn't screwed up recently.
While most teams use a receiver or defensive back to return kicks, some teams employ a return specialist, a player nominally assigned to a standard position whose primary duties are to return kickoffs and punts, and occasionally cover the opponents' returns. Devin Hester, longtime returner for the Chicago Bears now playing for the Atlanta Falcons, is the most successful return specialist in NFL history; Philadelphia Eagles (formerly New Orleans Saints) return specialist Darren Sproles holds the single-season record for all-purpose yardage; and Cleveland Browns return specialist Josh Cribbs holds the all-time mark for most return touchdowns (8 PR touchdowns and 3 KR touchdowns, including 2 KR touchdowns in one game).
Teams also have players called gunners, who are called on to run down as fast as possible on punt and kickoff coverage to break up possible returns. The position developed because of an NFL rule stating that only the two players on either end of the offensive line can cross the line of scrimmage during a punt play before the ball is kicked. The gunners, who are almost always backup receivers, running backs, or defensive backs, must be fast and able to shed blocks, as they will usually have one or two players on the receiving team trying to block them as they go down the field. If a gunner is not covered by the receiving team, he may be the target for a pass off a fake punt. In the Pro Bowl (NFL all-star game), the "special teams" position is specifically used to recognize outstanding gunners. By acclamation, the best gunner in NFL history is Steve Tasker, who made the Pro Bowl seven times with the Buffalo Bills and was even named the game's MVP in 1993.
Finally, here are some terms you might want to know
    open/close all folders 
     General Terms 
Down: A play. (So named because a play usually ends when the ball carrier is tackled, i.e. forced down to the ground.) For a legal series, the offense has four tries to move the ball ten yards. If the offense moves the ball far enough, then the down series starts back over and it's first down again. If the offense runs out of downs, possession is turned over at the final position of the ball. As a result, teams treat fourth downs very conservatively and will usually either punt the ball or try for a field goal if they are at a reasonable range. "Going for it" on fourth down is only done when the first down is more strategically valuable than the turnover is detrimental, or the team is desperate for points or field position.
Downs are usually called out as "Nth and X", where N is the number of the down (4th is sometimes replaced with "last") and X is the number of advanced yards required to start the down count over: "2nd and 7", for example, means the offense is on its second try to move the ball ten yards away from where the first down took off, and their current play must move the ball 7 yards forward in order to restart the down count. If the ball is downed within the ten yards approaching the Goal Line, the downs are then called as "Nth and Goal", as there is no first down to gain, and the team must score to avoid turning it over.
In situations where less than a whole yard remains to convert, the play will commonly be called out as "Nth and short" or possibly "Nth and inches", whereas plays requiring large yardage gains may be called out as "Nth and long". Yards lost as a result of a play or penalty are added on to the distance required to convert the first down, so a team that loses 5 yards on a 1st-and-10 play (with no penalty involved) will face 2nd and 15 on their next play.
During the game, officials on the sidelines employ a pair of large orange sticks connected by a 10-yard length measuring chain to mark the distance required for a new first down. These officials are known colloquially as "the chain gang". Occasionally, they will be called out onto the field itself to measure the final position of the ball when a play is too close to call by the referee's eye alone. Thus a common slang term for converting is "moving the chains". A play series that is particularly unproductive is often called a "three and out", meaning the offense used their first 3 downs and netted so little yardage (or negative yardage) that their only realistic option is to burn the 4th down by punting the ball away and getting off the field.
On television, the line to achieve a new first down note Officially called the "line to gain," though this term is infrequently used by anyone other than the referees themselves. is rendered virtually for viewers, usually in yellow or white. However, it is merely for fan and analyst reference only; referees are disallowed from using the technology to make a ruling and the orange marking pad on the ground and the down chains are the official tools used for measurements.
Line of Scrimmage: This is the line where the ball is placed at the beginning of each play. If the ball carrier is tackled behind it, they lose yardage. On television, it is often virtually projected on the field as a white or blue line.
Neutral Zone: the space between the teams before the ball is snapped that is as long as the ball from tip to tip. Neither team is allowed to be in that area until the ball is snapped and ineligible receivers are not allowed to proceed past this area during passing plays until the ball is past them.
Snap: The moment when the Center lifts the football off its place on the ground and a play officially begins. Immediately prior to the snap, the entire offensive team must freeze in place for one second, except for one member of the offensive backfield who is allowed to be in lateral motion.
Line to Gain: This line initially begins 10 yards from the line of scrimmage at the beginning of each down series. If the offense moves the ball beyond it, they've achieved a new series of downs. On television, it is virtually projected on the field as a yellow line (red on fourth down, unless the team lines up to punt in which case the TV broadcasters rarely bother to change the color).
Goal Line: These are lines at both ends of the 100-yard football field. If a team moves the ball past its opponent's goal line it scores a touchdown. If the ball carrier gets pushed back behind his own goal line and tackled then the defense scores a safety.
End Zone: The area behind each goal line which is legally within the bounds of play. In American Football, the end zones are ten yards deep.
Lateral Pass: Or simply "lateral". Any exchange in which the ball is transferred laterally or behind the ball's current position. A lateral is legal at any time, between any two players. Handoffs are considered lateral passes. An incomplete lateral pass is live and considered a fumble. Other than handoffs or pitch-outs/sweeps (where the running back doesn't run close enough to the quarterback to directly take a handoff, so he can get to the outside of the field faster), laterals are usually not scripted into a play. Sometimes, they are part of a play - like in instances where someone other than the quarterback throws a forward pass. Every once in a blue moon, you'll see a designed lateral happen after a reception - resulting in miracle plays like this one.
In theory, the number of times a ballhandling unit can do this with a live ball is unlimited - which can result in insane/controversial plays that go down in college/pro football lore like these
he didn't down the ball in the end zone and the opposing team (Northern Iowa) stripped the ball from him for a free touchdown .
Downed Kick: if the kicking team during a punt recovers the kick before the receiving team this is called downing the ball (technically this is a rule violation called "illegal touching") the result is still a change of possession but the receiving team will have no opportunity to advance the ball. This is most commonly used to prevent the ball from going into the end-zone and pinning the other team deep in their own zone.
Onside kick: on a kick off, if the kicking team receives the ball before the receiving team on a kickoff the kicking team can retain possession of it, the only requirement is that the ball travel 10 yards before a member of the kicking team touches it (the only exception being if the receiving team touches it before it crosses 10 yards but doesn't maintain possession). The formation for this kick, if it's expected usually has a majority of the kicking team on one side of the kicker to maximize their chances. The receiving team will usually stack one side of the field to match. The kicker usually kicks the ball so that it bounces off the ground high in the air, this is for two reasons: one, when the ball touches the ground the receiving team cannot call a fair catch, two, this gives the ball a nice high arc allowing the kicking team time to get past the first line of blockers and a lot of spin to make it difficult for the receiving team to catch the ball. The ball can be advanced on an on-side kick reception. This play is normally used if the team kicking the ball needs to score and the game is nearing the end. It is a very risky play to attempt because if the kicking team does not receive the ball it puts the receiving team in very good field position. The receiving team when expecting an onside kick will put in what's referred to as the "hands team" instead of their usual kickoff return team, typically consisting largely of wide receivers and defensive backs whose main skill is catching the ball rather than blocking for a runner. Recent rule changes have prohibited stacking everyone one side of the field, in an effort to reduce injuries; now at least a couple of players have to be on each side of the kicker. Rarely, a team will attempt a "surprise" onside kick out of normal kickoff formation and somewhat earlier in the game than an onside kick would normally be expected. This has the advantage of catching the receiving team off-guard, while they don't have their "hands team" on the field and are out of position to recover the kick, but requires that the kicking team also be out of position in order to sell the deception.
Other American Pro Leagues
The NFL has been the dominant Football league in America for almost its entire existence. There have however, been various attempts to compete with the league. A few of the more notable include:
All-America Football Conference (1946-1949): While this league as a whole was not successful, three of its teams were taken into the NFL when the AAFC broke up: the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Baltimore Colts (which folded after one season in the NFL, though the current Colts—now in Indianapolis—are a Spiritual Successor ). The Browns proved to be one of the top teams in the NFL for the next decade.
American Football League (1960-1969): Actually the fourth league to use this name, although they were the most successful. Probably the most visible competition to the NFL, and the two leagues merged in 1970, creating the current AFC and NFC conferences. All of the AFL's teams are now NFL franchises (though the Houston Oilers are now the Tennessee Titans; also the Seattle Seahawks, which were placed in the AFC in 1977, were switched to the NFC when the Houston Texans were created as an expansion team). The NFL occasionally celebrates the history of the AFL, with the most notable being the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2010 (which included numerous "throwback" games in which teams and even referees wore AFL-style uniforms, even if the team name and/or location on the old uniform was no longer accurate). A list of notable players who started out in the AFL (even just a list of Hall of Famers) would be too large for this page. However, there is only one player in the Hall of Fame who played only in the AFL and never in the NFL: offensive guard Billy Shaw
.
World Football League (1973-1975): A complete and total flop (and not even a "world" football league , the only team not on the American mainland was a team in Hawaii). Managed to last for two seasons despite laughable amounts of ineptness (one team had its equipment confiscated following the league's championship game) from almost everyone involved. Only two WFL alumni - Larry Csonka and Paul Warfield, both former NFL stars at the end of their careers - made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
This is not the same as the World League of American Football, a league that began in the early 1990's and later evolved into NFL Europa; they are discussed later, under "American Football in Other Countries".
United States Football League (1982-1987): The first serious competition with the NFL since the AFL's halcyon days. The league ran in the spring and signed several star college players (the first being Herschel Walker) before the NFL could snatch them up. The league had problems with solvency early on, and the more cash-strapped teams moved frequently making it hard to cultivate fanbases or secure long-term TV deals. ultimate irony They would have gotten a four year TV deal with pretty impressive money for the season they would ultimately never play; there was only one condition: Keep the Spring schedule. They decided to go to a fall schedule and try their luck with an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL. It failed. Stories abounded of teams playing in near-empty stadiums and players having their paychecks bounce. Even so, it was rather popular in some markets and looked to be on the way towards success until Donald Trump (yeah, that Donald Trump ) bought a team and slowly started to take over the league. He had the league sue the NFL for an anti-trust violation and planned on moving the USFL to the fall (possibly because he may have planned to have the more successful USFL teams folded into the NFL and acquire his own NFL franchise). The USFL won its anti-trust violation and was awarded... $3 . The league folded shortly after that. Four USFL players (Steve Young , Jim Kelly, Reggie White and Gary Zimmerman) are in the Hall of Fame. All of them signed with NFL teams. The USFL was also where players like Doug Flutie and the aforementioned Herschel Walker played their first pro seasons.
That $3 check was never cashed (as of 2006)
, and is considered one of the biggest collectors' items out there. Incidentally, the original amount of the award in that case was only $1, but under anti-trust law at that time, any damages awarded by a civil jury were to be automatically tripled, hence the odd value. The reason for the itty bitty award is interesting in itself. The league sued the NFL for anti-trust violations, stating that the NFL used its dominant position to employ predatory tactics to take over the USFL or otherwise put it out of business, by outbidding them for top players, monopolizing the best venues, and the like. Which on the whole was true. However, the court also found that most of the USFL's problems were caused by mismanagement; specifically, their decision to move from a spring schedule to a fall schedule where they would compete directly with the NFL. This move alone caused four teams in top markets to shut their doors or relocate rather than be wiped off the map by NFL teams playing in the same cities. This in turn meant that there were too few teams to accept a leaguewide television contract that would have sustained the league for at least three or four more years had they stuck to a spring schedule, and there were almost no bidders among the major networks willing to pay the bills for a schedule with direct competition. Thus, the NFL did indeed have a monopoly, but the court found that the USFL died without help from anyone else , leading to their Pyrrhic Victory .
Arena Football League (1987-2008, 2010-present): Just based on longevity and popularity, the Arena Football League is probably the best known alternative league since the 60's American Football League, even though the Arena League isn't technically a competitor to the NFL. The league plays "Arena football" which is different in several ways to regular football, stuff we'll let The Other Wiki explain better
; the most obvious difference is that it's played on smaller fields in indoor arenas. Did decently in the ratings and in popularity until the league surprisingly crashed and burned in 2008. The AFL's second-tier league, being a subsidiary, was dissolved in the AFL's bankruptcy, but since they were at least reasonably profitable, they soon reformed into a new legal entity and bought the rights to the AFL name, effectively reinstating the league in 2010. Like the AFL, a list of notable NFL players who also played/currently play in the Arena league would be way too long for this page. There are other, smaller (low-paying) indoor football leagues in America's small to mid-sized cities which don't use AFL rules (since they were patented at the league's launch) and are generally unstable, with teams folding or changing leagues seemingly every year.
X FL (2000-2001): Founded by Vince McMahon , it represented the first new nationwide pro football league in nearly twenty years. Strong promotion by UPN and NBC gave it incredibly high ratings for the first two weeks of games (in most cases, with over triple the viewership of the most optimistic projections), but those ratings quickly spiraled downward as the curiosity crowd and WWF audience went away and the remaining football fans realized that the game quality just wasn't very good. By the end of the season, games airing on NBC were drawing record low ratings for prime time programming. Was the home for a handful of very good players - mostly NFL second-stringers who were never really given a chance, like QB Tommy Maddox, the league's lone MVP. Probably best known at the time for Rod Smart, a RB for the Las Vegas Outlaws whose jersey read "HE HATE ME" on the back instead of his own name. Most of the XFL's Hatedom was a result of McMahon's attempt to promote certain players as "characters" with a focus on interpersonal storylines rather than interteam stories, which, while interesting, was a very Love It or Hate It move that did little to encourage the watching of the game. Also criticized was the XFL ruleset's focus on smashmouth football, encouraging hard hits with a lesser emphasis on penalties. Which served as a reminder of why the rules evolved the way they did. Aside from the gameplay itself, several factors worked against it, including the fact that it was owned and operated in partnership with NBC to field their own "in-house" football league. note  In the abstract, this seemed like a risk worth taking. Whatever else his faults, Vince McMahon is a hell of a businessman. The teams were not independently owned; McMahon owned the league and all the teams and instituted a leaguewide salary structure that helped limit costs, with NBC helping foot the bill in exchange for broadcasting rights. If the league were a success, or at least broke even, then NBC would be on the ground floor to a viable alternative to the NFL and could garner the high ratings of airing football at a fraction of the cost of constantly negotiating for NFL programming. The high ratings for the first few weeks were encouraging, but when they began to tank, NBC didn't have the patience to let the league evolve and recover. There was talk of going forward with a second season, but the price would have been shutting down McMahon's "SmackDown!" wrestling show. He wasn't willing to do so, and that was that. That, combined with Vince McMahon's tendency to cross-promote with the WWF, eventually led to a perfect storm of casual fans not taking it seriously as a legit football alternative (most saw it as the same kind of "sports entertainment" as pro wrestling, with some even convinced that the game results were scripted) and professional sportscasters having no incentive to show results of a league owned by a rival network. This meant no game recaps on SportsCenter or FOX Sports, no scores recorded in newspaper sports pages, and almost no coverage in Sports Illustrated.
United Football League (2007-2013): The most recent entry into the NFL competitor sweepstakes, it remained largely low key and at the time of its demise featured only four teams in small markets. During the 2011 NFL lockout, it gained media attention for extending invitation to NFL players to play for them if the regular season had been delayed. This didn't happen. The final teams were in Virginia Beach, Virginia; Omaha, Nebraska; Las Vegas, Nevada and Sacramento, California. Not exactly football hotbedsnote Nebraska is, though its Mecca is Lincoln, not Omaha, and they worship at the altar of Big Red (the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers), but each team had a small yet devoted fanbase. After the 2012 season was cut short, there were hopes that a 2013 season would take place, but the scheduled dates came and went . No official statement was ever made about the league's future, and the UFL is technically still in existence, but as the business licenses for all its teams expired and said teams and the league itself have almost no staff on the payroll, the league moved on not with a bang, but with a whimper.
Legends Football League (2010-present): Formerly known as the Lingerie Football League, it is, at this point, the only "major" female football league with any media attention, though most of it is negative attention because the players basically play in athletically-minded, two-piece sports-wear with padding and helmets, with games carried in edited form on networks like MTV2 , YouTube , and Fuse TV. Some of the female players are just glad to play at all (using the example of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League seen in A League of Their Own ) and try to ignore the criticism. Uses a 7-on-7 indoor format with no punts and field goals. Started to exploit the publicity that came with the Lingerie Bowl, a pay-per-view event that counterprograms the Super Bowl yearly. Between 2012 & 2013, the LFL made significant changes in hopes of legitimizing the league. The league expanded by adding new teams in Canada for 2012, and Australia for 2013, with the launch of a European league now delayed to 2015, with each country/region acting as its own separate league. The US teams shifted their schedule from a fall schedule to a spring-summer schedule similar to Arena Football and other indoor leagues. In 2013, the league rebranded itself by changing its name and announcing that it would downplay the "sexiness" factor of the league; depictions of sexualized women will be removed from team logos, and the "lingerie" aspect will be removed.
Fantasy Football
Though the concept of fantasy sports began with Baseball, it truly exploded once it was expanded to Football. With the advent of the internet, and thus computers happy to do all that obnoxious "tracking of every game stat" and "doing math on those stats to turn them into points" stuff for people automatically, fantasy football (along with fantasy baseball, naturally) became even more popular, as it was now accessible to people unwilling or unable to do the tedious record-keeping and calculations. Plus, they no longer had to find all their players in the same geographical area, so that was easier too.
Players meet once before the season, either online or in-person, and select real NFL players in their fantasy draft. One the regular season rolls around, the players choose a "team" based on the players they have selected, and receive points based on how well the real-life players do. This is Serious Business for many fans and there are literally thousands of websites, magazines, books, articles, television programs and even sitcoms ( The League ) dedicated to discussion of Fantasy Football. Some players have gambled huge sums of money on this. This became exceptionally notable when Brian Westbrook of the Philadelphia Eagles chose to stop on the 1 yard line rather than score a touchdown late in a game. By stopping, he allowed his team to run out the clock and win the game without risk, but many, many fantasy football teams lost as a result. Bill Simmons , formerly of ESPN.com, wrote that one of his readers lost one hundred thousand dollars because of that play.
By extension, it can result in some fantasy players wanting real teams to run up the score (ordinarily considered unsportsmanlike) in order to improve their fantasy team's stats.
Since Fantasy Football was previously prone to the Rage Quit , some leagues have begun enforcing financial penalties for the teams which finish in last place. In the aforementioned Bill Simmons ' league, the loser pays for the pizza and beer at the next season's draft. However, this has gotten more creative, as one small league in Nebraska became infamous for making the loser get a tattoo designed by the winner, with their only choice being it's location on the body. ESPN found this so hilarious, they covered it for the entire season
with the seriousness of a real league.
American Football in other countries
Because the word 'football' refers unambiguously to association football (soccer) outside the United States and Canadanote  and Australia, and Ireland, and South Africa, and Japan, with varying levels of ambiguity, the sport is referred to as "American football" (or a translation thereof) to differentiate it from other football codes such as association football and rugby football. In Australia and New Zealand the game is known as gridiron football, although in the United States the term "gridiron" refers only to the playing field itself.
The NFL has attempted to introduce the game to other nations and operated a developmental league known as NFL Europa (previously NFL Europe or the World League of American Football), which over the years had teams in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Great Britainnote in fact, in its first two seasons (as the WLAF), it had North American teams as well before switching to Europe-only and changing its name to NFL Europe, but the league gradually shrank and condensed into a six-team league, five of which were in Germany. The league folded following the 2007 season.
In Canada, football is played at the professional level by the Canadian Football League and at universitynote (in Canadian English, "college" refers exclusively to schools that would be called "junior", "community", or "technical" colleges in the States) level by U Sports.
In the UK, where it's often derided as "Rugby for pansies", 46 teams play in the British American Football League. The BAFL has three levels: The Premier, of which there are 7 teams; BAFL 1, of which there are 12 teams; and BAFL 2, of which there are 27 teams. While the lower level teams have their own championship games during BritBowl Weekend, only Premier league teams face each other in the BritBowl which is it traditionally held in Sheffield's Don Valley Stadium. Unlike the NFL, the BAFL season is played through the summer (April to September), with the British university season spanning the autumn and winter. In the 1980s, the Sky network featured live broadcasts of American football games. Unfortunately, those broadcasts were early in the morning. Despite this, it managed to get small but devoted audience.
Recently, there's renewed interest in the game with Sky Sports showing the early doubleheader and NFL Network games, the local ESPN airs Monday Night Football , while the terrestrial Five network gets Sunday Night Football, all live (though in the latter cases the night games air in the early mornings after midnight London time due to time zones). The NFL currently plays two yearly regular season games at the new Wembley Stadium in London in order to stoke further interest in the American game with the Jaguars giving up one home date in order to play every year because their owner also owns former English Premier League side Fulham, thus twice a year two team's "home games" takes place at least 2,000 miles away across The Pond at a neutral venue. The NFL, while doing well in the US, sees its future in expanding the league in other countries, and regular season NFL games abroad are a part of this plan. The Arena Football League has stated similar aspirations, and has established a subsidiary to build a 6-team league in China by 2014, featuring both American and local talent.
In Mexico, the ONEFA is a college league with 26 teams in 3 conferences. It was the most important championship in Latin America before the country established Liga Fútbol Americano, a fully professional league (the first such gridiron football league outside the US and Canada) in 2016. The new league launched with four teams, with expansion to six announced for 2017. Mexicans have been playing college American football since the 1920s, and today's top Mexican college teams are seen as roughly equivalent to NCAA Division III (non-scholarship) teams, but steadily improving. In 2009, a Mexican college team beat Blinn College, a Texas junior college (two-year school), in an exhibition. Making that game more significant was that Blinn went on to win the US junior college national title, and the quarterback who lost the exhibition and won the national title was Cam Newton. Yes, that Cam Newton. When broadcasts of American football started in 1960s, games featuring the Dallas Cowboys were shown. Its popularity grew during the 1970s with returning migrants who were American football fans popularizing the sport. While its popularity can't compare with soccer, it's by far the most popular minor league sport there. It's also the most popular sport to bet on there, with the odds of winning at 50/50 as opposed to 1/3 of winning with soccer. The NFL has also expressed interest in playing at least one yearly game in Mexico City, like it does in London.
In Japan, the X-League is a professional league with 60 teams in four divisions, using promotion and relegation. After the post-season playoffs, the X-League champion is determined in the Japan X Bowl. There are also over 200 universities fielding teams, with the national collegiate championship determined by the Koshien Bowl. The professional and collegiate champions then face each other in the Rice Bowl to determine the national champion.
In Germany the sport got a foothold because of the American troops stationed at bases there. The German Football Leaguenote  Not a translationï¿½that's the actual German name. organizes roughly 200 teams, the elite division is called German Football League and comprises 16 (less in the event of bankruptcies) teams partitioned into north and south divisions. The finalists from the playoffs determine the German champion during the German Bowl. All but one of the NFL Europa teamsnote It was renamed NFL Europa starting after its penultimate season were based in Germany by the time it folded. Curiously, although American soldiers were stationed mostly in the southern parts, the north dominates strongly, having won all but two German Bowls since 1993 as of 2016. The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns are the only exception to Northern dominance, having won the German Bowlnote  Again, this is the actual German name in 2011 and 2012 and often giving a fierce fight in the Playoffs. German teams (especially the Brunswick Lions and the Hamburg Blue Devils) dominated European football in the mid to late 90s but had an Austrian caused drought until a win in 2010. The most successful teams are Brunswick (New Yorker) Lions, Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns, Kiel Baltic Hurricanes and Dresden Monarchsnote They have not yet won a championship and have gotten quite a Every Year They Fizzle Out reputation. Historically teams like Berlin Adler or Hamburg Blue Devils were also quite good until budget woes kept them from signing good American talent and coaches and their German players left. As of 2016 the rules put a limit of two on the amount of "American" players (Mexicans, Canadians and Japanese also count as "Americans") that can be on the field at any given time. However, there is no such limit for European players from outside Germany, which means that the best teams are often an assortment of "European all stars" with the French national Quarterback playing in the second league in Germany for many years. When the European competitions were reorganized into the " Big 6 " and the "EFL Bowl", both competitions were dominated by German teams (three out of six big6 teams have been German since its first season) and as of and including 2016 all winners of either competition have been German as well. The 2016 edition of the EFL Bowl was even won by a team that had just earned promotion to the first tier that season - Frankfurt Universe. On the spectator side, Football in Germany has had its ebbs and flows, being introduced thanks to American soldiers in the area (Ansbach and Frankfurt dominated the league in 1979 and the next couple of years largely on the strength of nearby US military bases) and steadily growing thanks to decent coverage by the main Pay TV providernote  For the most part there is only one Pay TV provider of note at any given time in Germany. At the time it was called Premiere and - as is usual - carried live soccer as well as the NFL, so people who bought it for the former stuck around for the latter, however the bankruptcy of the Hamburg Blue Devils, the shutdown of NFL Europe (which never made a cent in profits and had only one arguably financially sustainable franchise - Frankfurt) and a slump of the Braunschweig Lions dealt a serious blow to the sport and for some time even having the Super Bowl on German TV was hit and miss. However, quality of play stayed high and Germany won the European championship of 2010 with the league slowly but surely recovering on a broader base instead of the Hamburg-Braunschweig duopoly of the 1990s and early 2000s. By 2014 more NFL games could be found on TV and Germany defended its European title in Austria against Austria in front of 27,000 people. Someone at Sat1 took note and the 2015 regular season was to be the first to be carried in free TV. Ratings exploded and the NFL has become a social phenomenon in Germany ever since, way past what even the best NFL Europe days could have hoped for. In 2016, Schwäbisch Hall wide receiver Moritz Böhringer became the first European ever drafted by an NFL team without having played American college ball, and is now on the Minnesota Vikings' practice squad.
In The Netherlands, the sport is run by the American Football Bond Nederland (American Football Association Netherlands). The league consists of two divisions. The Eredivisie (Premier League) is the highest ranked division and consists of eight teams. The First Division contains 11 teams is divided in 2 groups. In the days of the NFL Europe, the Amsterdam Admirals were one of the long running participants and eventually the only non-German team in the league. American Football has a small, but devoted fanbase in The Netherlands. On average, the Admirals attracted 12.000 fans to home games in the Amsterdam Arena (capacity of 50.000). The Superbowl is live broadcasted on the open channel, while the other games are available via pay television.
Finland has traditionally had the strongest European national side (holding a record 5 European titles out of 12, with two each for Italy, the UK and three for Germany (the current holders) and one for Sweden) and Finnish teams winning the first two Eurobowls (a playoff competition between the winners of the European leagues) but has faded since. Traditionally Finnish teams relied on huge physical guys and Finnish linemen and tight ends are still sought after in the top leagues of Europe.
In Austria, the top-tier Austrian Football Leaguenote  Also the league's actual German name. consists of seven teams (one of them from the Czech Republic). Austrian teams dominated European club competitions, winning all Eurobowls from 2004 through 2009, and is now competing with the German league for the moniker "strongest league in Europe".
In Hungary, 18 registered teams participate in a the MAFL's two division league structure. The sport has grown significantly since 2004 and with some top Division I teams participating in the CEFL.
In Norway, div I consists of only two teams, Oslo Vikings and Eidsvoll 1814's. These two teams also compete in the European Football League but they play an annual game for the Norwegian Championship title. Norway has seven other teams that play in div II and this division is looked upon as the Norwegian Football League.
Poland launched its league, the Polish American Football League (PLFA, its Polish initialism), with four teams in 2006. By 2008, the PLFA had 17 teams, and the league split into two divisions. For 2013, there are a total of 74 teams in five leagues, with both 11-man and 8-man leagues. The highest level, the Topliga (11-man), has 8 teams, with 29 other teams playing in two divisions below that. In the 8-man game, there are 37 teams in two divisions. The final match of the Topliga, officially SuperFinal PLFA and usually known in English as the Polish Bowl, had traditionally drawn small crowds in the 1,000 to 1,500 range... until it was moved to the National Stadium in Warsaw for 2012 and drew 23,000. The 2013 Polish Bowl returned to the National Stadium and drew 16,500.
The International Federation of American Football is the governing body for American football with 45 member associations from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. The IFAF also oversees the American Football World Cup, which is held every four years. Japan won the first two World Cups, held in 1999 and 2003. Team USA, which had not participated in the first two tournaments, won the next thre in 2007, 2011 and 2015. The American and Canadian National teams don't include any NFL or CFL players (and the few NFL players from other countries are not allowed to play for their national teams either) and in fact even top college talent is conspicuously absent. Still, the US team has only lost one game during its entire existence - against a "rest of the world" all star team, which sent many members to top colleges and the NFL later on. note  That was the point of the game - for players from both sides
The European Federation of American Football is the governing body in Europe (for the most part, there have been squabbles between IFAF and EFAF in the past, mostly fueled by the egos of the respective leaders). It's main business is organizing pan-European competition like the Eurobowl (now renamed to Big6) or the European Championship. Judging from the media interest and spectator numbers of the 2014 European Championship (all games live in Austrian TV, 27 000 turned out for the final) they are doing a pretty decent job of it. However, the lack of competitive balance between Germany, Austria, France on one hand and pretty much the rest of Europe on the other as well as the lack of enthusiasm for the sport in many countries make their job rather difficult. The next European championship is to be held in Germany in 2018 who are also defending champions twice over (2010 & 2014).
Major American leagues have also held some regular season games outside of the United States. On October 2, 2005, the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers played the first regular season NFL game outside of the United States, in Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, From 2007, the NFL has played or has plans to play at least one regular season game outside of the United States, with London being the typical location. The NCAA will also play games outside of the U.S. In 2012, the United States Naval Academy played the University of Notre Dame in Dublin, Ireland. In 2014, Dublin again hosted the sport, though at a different stadium,note The 2012 game was held at Aviva Stadium, home to the Republic of Ireland soccer team and the Ireland rugby team. The 2014 game was at Croke Park, home to the Gaelic Athletic Association. when Penn State and UCF (Central Florida) played, and the Bahamas began hosting a postseason bowl game. The 2016 season saw two season openers outside the U.S., with California and Hawaii playing in Sydney and a return to Dublin, this time with Boston College and Georgia Tech.
American Football in fiction:
Mutant League Football
Backbreaker
Black College Football: The Xperience, an experimental title that focused exclusively on historically black universities. Mostly known for its focus on non-football stuff, such as a halftime drum competition minigame, and an interactive player museum.
    Western Animation 
Shows up in It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown as a homecoming game for the kids. Their school's athletic budget is pretty minimal: no actual uniforms for Peppermint Patty's team; Snoopy ends up playing the roles of referee, cheerleader, and news helicopter; Woodstock is a linesman and cameraman. Based, of course, on Peanuts strips featuring football, the playing of football, and the pulling away of footballs.
There was also You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown, where the kids competed in a punt-pass-and-kick contest for Super Bowl tickets, interspersed with Snoopy coaching a team of Woodstock and his friends in an Animal Football League.
An episode of King of the Hill featured Bill going back to his high school to graduate and play one more year and trying to regain a rushing record he had recently lost in the process.
Another one features the guys and Bobby attending a college conference championship game between the Texas Longhorns and the Nebraska Cornhuskers (a fictitious game, although Texas and Nebraska did play for the Big 12 championship in 1996, 1999, and 2009), in which they end up sneaking into a luxury box normally used by a famous Nebraska alum and former football player.
The NFL made their own animated show in 2010 called NFL Rush Zone Guardians Of The Core (which later became "Season of the Guardians", and most recently, "Guardians Unleashed"), a Flash cartoon which aired on Nicktoons Network. Notable in that the cartoon features real players and coaches from the NFL, most voiced by their real life counterparts.
Peter meets Tom Brady in the Family Guy episode "Patriot Games", and briefly plays running back for the New England Patriots.
SilverHawks team members (and super-strong Cyborg Genius Bruisers Will and Emily Hart are hard-core football fans-Will's Collapsible Helmet even looks like a football one!
For more information, watch Eyeshield 21 or Friday Night Lights . Or show up at a sports bar full of drunk Americans on an autumn weekend afternoon. Or any part of Texas , with anyone, at any time, especially if you like high school football. Or anywhere near a public television in an American college campus on game day. Or on Super Bowl Sunday pretty much all around the globe and ask the person wearing the most NFL gear.
Alternative Title(s): Canadian Football, Gridiron Football
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