American Football Rules

American Football Rules

Each game begins with a coin toss to determine which team will begin on defense and which team will kick off, as well as who guards which end zone. Once this is determined, the players—11 players on the field for each team—then have their place kicker kick the ball to the opposing team. Once the ball is caught, the race to score a touch-down, which is worth 6 points, is on. As the ball is set in motion, it is the goal of the defensive team—the team without the ball in possession—to stop the opposing team from bringing the ball down the field and scoring. The most common way to keep this from happening is to tackle the player who has the ball, which then results in what is called a down. The team with possession of the ball has four downs, essentially, to get the ball to their end zone and score or get gain enough yards with the ball to earn another four chances, before the ball changes possession to the other team. The main goal of the offense is to score a goal on every play but if that is not possible, they may decide to advance the ball ten or more yards to maintain the original position.

Whomever has the ball is the team playing offense. The offense team on the field will declare a play that they must execute in hopes of making it into their end zone and it is the job of the defense to stop the other team from scoring. With the ball in possession, the team may move the ball down the field primarily by passing and once in the range of scoring a goal, may also opt to kick a field goal, worth 3 points.

The only players that are allowed to move the ball with their feet are the place kickers (generally the player who will try to kick a field goal) and punters (the player who will kick the ball into play during the first kickoff). There are a wide variety of plays in this game which are designed to enable the offense to score their goal. To combat these plays, the defensive team develops a barrage of plays as well, choosing the best one to use against the tactics the offense is predicted to use. Additionally, the offense can score 2 points for a safety, when they force their opponent back into their own end zone.

The game is divided into four equal parts know as periods, with different time lengths depending on the league that is playing. Unlike soccer, there are no ties in football and if, when the time runs out the two teams’ score is the same, an additional period will be played. If at the end of this period the teams are still tied, another period is added and so on until there is a definitive winner.