Rules of the Game 

Two teams of 11 players try to get the ball into the end zone at the other end of the field in 4 quarters of 15 minutes. There is an offense (team that has possession of the ball) and a defense on each side of the field.

The offense tries to advance the ball by either passing or running while the defense tries to stop their advance. The offense only has 4 attempts (‘downs’) to get 10 yards or they forfeit/turnover the ball. Scoring can be accomplished by crossing the line at the end of the field (end zone) with the ball giving the team 6 points (touchdown or ‘TD’) or by kicking a field goal (‘FG’) through the goal posts over the crossbar for 3 points. The offense will usually kick a FG if it is 4th down, they are in range (college inside the ~30 yrd line / pro ~ the 40) and a TD is unlikely so that way the team at least gets some points on the board. 

• A common misconception is that the offense will only kick a FG on 4th down. While that is most common, it technically is not a rule. If a team desperately needs a FG to stay in the game, they can kick on 3rd down and if they miss, they get another attempt. Again this is VERY unusual but it does happen.

If a TD is scored, a Point After Touchdown (‘PAT’) is attempted by either kicking the ball through the goal posts (similar to a FG) for 1 point or 2 extra points (‘2 point conversion’) can be gained if the offense can get the ball in the end zone again – think of this as a mini TD. After scoring, the offense will kick the ball back to the other team and they in turn will bring on their offense and try to score. In conclusion, the team that scores the most points wins.

How it starts:

The game starts with a coin toss. The visiting team’s captain will get to call heads or tails when the ref tosses the coin. If that call is correct, then the visiting team gets to pick if they would like to be offense or defense first. #GFHint: Keep in mind that they will actually pick to receive the kick (meaning they will be offense first) or defer which means they get to pick if they will start the second half as offense, which most do.

Lets say the visiting team won the coin toss and deferred to be offense at the start of the second half; the visiting team will line up to kick the ball (aka the kicking team). The home team (known as the return team for this play) will usually put 2 of their fastest guys as the kick returners in the backfield (between the 1 – 10 yrd line, this can vary).

The visiting team’s kicker kicks the ball and the kick returner catches the ball, he can either run until he is tackled or he can wave an arm while the kick is still in the air, which signifies a fair catch. If a fair catch is called, no player can tackle the returner without a penalty and the offense will start their drive where the returner caught the ball. When the returner runs, the offense will start their drive where the returner gets tackled. If the ball goes into the endzone, it is called a touchback and the offense will get the ball to start their drive at the 25 yrd line.

• New rule: As of the 2018 season, if the return team calls a fair catch inside the 25 yr line, it will now be considered a touchback.

Example of an offensive drive:

The offense on the field and starts at the 25 yrd line (after a touchback). A stick (usually covered in orange pads) is placed at the line of scrimmage (in this case the 25yrd line) and another stick is placed at the end of the 10yrds (first down line). These are also called the chains. The offense has 4 chances to get the ball to the 35 yrd line.

• In general the QB will touch the ball almost every play (trickplays are the exception to this). The center will snap the ball to the QB who will then decide to throw or pass or carry out the orders from the coach or offensive coordinator.

First Down:

On 1st Down (or the first play) – The center will hike the ball back to the QB and lets say the QB hands it to the RB who runs 5 yrds and gets tackled. Now the offense is on the 30 yrd line and has 3 more chances to get the remaining 5 yrds. The offense will have 40 seconds to start their next play. 

Second Down:

The center hikes the ball to the QB who looks to throw the ball. The QB cannot cross the line of scrimmage (wherever the center just hiked the ball from – marked with that padded stick) to throw the ball. Let’s say, the WR catches the ball after advancing 3 yrds. We’ll get into the type of routes or runs the WR can do later. The offense is now on the 33yrd line and it is now 3rd down. You’ll hear this called 3rd and 2 (meaning third down with 2 yrds to go to get the first down).

Third Down:

The center hikes the ball to the QB who hands it to the RB again, who gets 7 yrds. Then you’ll hear “First Down!” and the refs will move the chains to start the next set of downs. The game clock stops briefly while the refs move the chains. It  starts again once the ref says the ball is ready and blows the whistle.

In this case there will not be a fourth down. The next set of downs will then occur starting with the line of scrimmage where the RB was stopped (the 40 yrd line) and the new 1st down line is the 50 yrd line. Every time the offense gets a 1st down, they get to stay on the field and keeping trying to get a TD; that is why 1st downs are celebrated. 

Lets say this went a different way…

3rd Down: The center hikes to the QB who gives it to the RB who gets tackled immediately at the line of scrimmage (the 33 yrd line). Which means its now 4th down with 2 yrds to go (exactly the same set up before the 3rd down occurred). This means the offense can go for it on 4th down or punt it. In this case, most teams as the offense would punt the ball away.

Why?

Because even though they technically have 4 downs (so one more chance), the 4th down will be used to get the ball as far away from their endzone as possible. If the offense does not get the 2 remaining yrds needed then they forfeit the ball to the defense wherever the play stopped (also called ‘turnover on downs’), which would be before the 35 yrd line. And then the defense’s team would only have a max of 35 yrds to go to score a TD when the offense had to go 75 yrds.

After the offense punts the ball away, the team that was previously playing defense brings their offense onto the field. And repeat! Play ultimately ends when the clock runs out at the end of the 4th quarter.

• When the 1st half is done (at the end of the 2nd quarter), play is stopped and the teams go to a 20 minute halftime. It does not matter what yard line either team is on, the 2nd half will start with a kickoff (just like the beginning of the game) to the team who did not receive in the 1st half. 

I know I don’t touch on defense very much but their job is to stop TDs, FGs and first downs. It’s a simple goal but not an easy task! 

Clock Management:

• Run plays do not stop the clock unless the player go out of bounds
  • At the end of the game and their team wants to score again, RBs will make a point to try to get out of bounds so they can conserve the clock.
  • If the RB’s team is ahead and wants to avoid giving the ball back to the other team, then the RBs will make an effort to stay in bounds when they get tackled.
• Pass plays stop the clock if it is an incomplete pass
  • If the receiver catches the ball and starts running then gets tackled, the clock will continue to run.
• After a play, the offense has 40 seconds to snap the ball on the next play.
• Each team has 3 Time Outs (‘TO’) per half. No, TOs do not rollover into the 2nd half. TOs stop the clock.
  • #GFHint: In the 2nd half, coaches will save their TOs to use at the end of the 4th quarter (and sometimes the 2nd quarter) to stop the clock.

Other facts:

• After each quarter, the teams will switch sides of the field.
  • This means at the end of 1st quarter and 3rd quarter (not the end of a half), the offense will continue their drive.
  • For example: If the offense was on the 30 yrd line and it was 2nd down when the clock ran out for 1st quarter, then the offense will switches ends of the field but will still start on the 30 yrd line and it will still be 2nd down.
• A pass is ruled complete if the receiver keeps 1 foot in bounds (2 in NFL).
• A full football game will be 1 hour of playing time but usually takes about 3.5 hours to watch.
• We will get into Overtime rules later as they get complicated. Look for a future post!
• We will also get into trick plays later. Look for a future post!

 

If you don’t understand any of the words used above, check out the Football Vocab page.