Football is a sport many people enjoy watching, but few understand how to play. If you're one of those people who wants to understand the game a bit more, this blog post is for you. In the following paragraphs, we'll give you a crash course on football so you can start enjoying the game like never before!

The Basics

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First things first: American football is played with two teams of 11 players each. The objective of the game is to score more points than your opponent.

Scoring

6 points - A team score points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone (Touchdown). A touchdown happens when an offensive player catches a pass from a teammate in their own end zone or carries it into the opposing team's end zone.

1 point or 2 points - After scoring a touchdown, teams can attempt (PAT) Points after Touchdown. They can attempt an extra point kick (worth one point) or go for two points by running or passing into their opponent's end zone again.

3 points - Points can be scored by kicking the ball through the opponent's goal posts (Field Goal). If an offensive player kicks the ball through their opponent's goal posts while on the playing field, this is called a field goal and is worth three points.

2 points - Safety is worth two points when the defensive team tackles the offensive team in their end zone.

Football Field

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The field of play is 100 yards long and 53.3 yards wide. The end zones are 10 yards deep. There are markings on the field that indicate every yards. At each end of the field there are goal posts; these are used for scoring points via a field goal or an extra point attempt.

Moving the ball (Offense)

Each team has four downs, or chances, to move the ball 10 yards forward. If they succeed in doing so, they earn another set of four downs. If they don't, then they have to punt (kick) the ball away to the other team or turn it over on downs. The team with the ball is called the offense; the team without it is called the defense.

Players on offense try to advance the ball downfield by either running with it or passing it forward to another player; players on defense try to stop them from doing so. That's really all there is to it! Now let's get into some of the more specific rules...

Advanced Rules

When one team has possession of the ball, they have four downs (or chances) to advance it 10 yards forward. If they succeed in doing so, then they earn another set of four downs. If they don't, then they have two options: punt (kick) away to the other team or turn over on downs. Punt means that you kick the ball as far away from your own end zone as possible; turning over on downs means that you give up possession of the ball to the other team at whatever point you were stopped on fourth down.

There are three ways that an offensive team can advance the ball 10 yards and earn another set of four downs:

  1. By running with the ball until a defender tackles them or forces them out-of-bounds
  2. By catching a pass from a teammate
  3. By having a defensive player commit a penalty against them

And that's really all there is to American football! Of course, there are countless more detailed rules but these are just some of basics that you need to know in order to understand and enjoy watching or playing football! Thanks for reading and we hope this has helped explain some things for you!

Please check out our other Football articles:

Best Footballs for the Athlete in You
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