# Explain American Football to someone who is basically ignorant of it **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 4, 2017, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302 "2017-01-04T11:34:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/41 "2017-01-05T18:33:19Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Usually, the goal of the punting team is to get the ball as close to the end zone as possible without going in. They can try kicking it so it goes out of bounds just before the end zone (the coffin corner). Or the punting team can try and run down and stop the ball from going in the end zone (honestly, one of my favorite type of plays to watch) One doesn’t often see “coffin corner” punts anymore (several decades ago, it was the normal punting strategy for pinning an opponent deep in their own side of the field). About 20 years ago, several players from Australian Rules Football joined the NFL as punters, and introduced a different sort of punt (an end-over-end, or “rugby” punt), which is (if executed properly) likely to not bounce much – and if it does, it’s more likely to bounce back towards the line of scrimmage (thus letting one’s teammates down the ball). This is the style of punt that nearly every NFL punter now uses in that situation. _Edit: a 2009 article from the New York Times on the change: [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/sports/football/11punting.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/sports/football/11punting.html) And, yes, I’m a special-teams nerd. 🙂_ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/42 "2017-01-05T19:08:31Z")
One point to keep in mind with “trick punts” is that, due to the ball’s shape, it tends to bounce unpredictably. So it’s best not to try anything too fancy, lest it fail spectacularly on you. The ideal “coffin corner” kick is only inches away from being a touchback. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/43 "2017-01-05T19:12:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > One point to keep in mind with “trick punts” is that, due to the ball’s shape, it tends to bounce unpredictably. So it’s best not to try anything too fancy, lest it fail spectacularly on you. Definitely so; it’s also one of the reasons why onside kicks (on kickoffs) are fairly difficult to execute successfully. American footballs originally were closer in shape to rugby balls, but, after the forward pass was legalized, the shape of the ball changed (with the ends becoming pointier) in order to make passing easier. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/44 "2017-01-05T19:13:23Z")
One additional wrinkle is that if the kicking team touches but doesn’t “down” the ball it is automatically an illegal touching penalty but the play goes on. The receiving team can still pick it up and run with it. If they don’t like the results of the run back (even to the point of a fumble) they can accept the illegal touching penalty at the spot of the foul. If they like the results of the play they can decline the penalty. It doesn’t happen very often but it does happen. ---
**Author:** ![Donpeyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a4c791/32.png) [@Donpeyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donpeyote)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/45 "2017-01-05T19:36:48Z")
Two most skilled positions ( Quarterback = offense ) ( Right Cornerback = defense ) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/46 "2017-01-05T21:53:36Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Looking at the stats for this year, here’s what happened with every punt: > Out of 2170 punts > 937 were returned > 603 were Fair Caught > 268 were downed (i.e., not caught and didn’t go into the endzone or out of bounds) > 213 went out of bounds > 144 were touchbacks > 5 were blocked That’s impressive. I’m actually surprised that not a single one (unless it falls under one of the categories) wasn’t muffed by the returner in some way leading the punting team to recover it. I’m not really thinking fumble so much as grazing a returner or bouncing of them in an unsuccessful fair catch or something of that nature. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/47 "2017-01-05T21:54:42Z")
I think a muff would count as “blocked”, even if it were due more to the kicking team than to the receiving team. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/48 "2017-01-05T21:55:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think a muff would count as “blocked”, even if it were due more to the kicking team than to the receiving team. Sorry. Clarified before the editing window timed out. See above. (ETA: Actually, I did originally write “by the returner,” so the clarification is meant to be more that I’m not counting ones that were returned and a hard tackle jarred the ball loose, but rather one in which it touched the returner and the punting team got a hold of it.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/49 "2017-01-05T21:57:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think a muff would count as “blocked”, even if it were due more to the kicking team than to the receiving team. I’d be surprised if that’s the case; a blocked punt gets specifically charged to the punter’s stats, whereas a muff (in which the ball touches a member of the returning team downfield) shouldn’t be, as it’s a completely different sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/50 "2017-01-05T22:10:47Z")
The site I pulled the stats from didn’t mention muffs at all. I’m thinking it would be considered a return with a fumble. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/51 "2017-01-05T22:19:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For what it’s worth, the name “football” (in any of its incarnations) doesn’t originally derive from kicking. It derives from the fact that the players are on foot, rather than mounted. There is very little evidence that this is true. Indeed, I would argue that the available evidence shows that the idea that “foot ball” was a reference to sports played “on foot” is itself a false etymology. See Edward III’s decree in 1363 ordering the prohibition of “football” as contrasted with “handball” and “hockey”. The other term usually applied to a football-like game came from Italy: _calcio_, which derives from the word for the heel, and implies kicking. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/52 "2017-01-06T01:03:53Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That’s impressive. I’m actually surprised that not a single one (unless it falls under one of the categories) wasn’t muffed by the returner in some way leading the punting team to recover it. I’m not really thinking fumble so much as grazing a returner or bouncing of them in an unsuccessful fair catch or something of that nature. There were definitely muffed punts this year - the Patriots had one against the Ravens in week 14. And it was a clear muff - the returner let it hit his leg, then the Ravens recovered it. Maybe it counts as “downed” ? It wouldn’t be returned, since in a usual muff, the returner never establishes possession of the ball. > [@Chronos](#): > > I think a muff would count as “blocked”, even if it were due more to the kicking team than to the receiving team. That makes absolutely no sense. A block is a very good thing for the receiving team. A muff is a very bad thing for the receiving team. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/53 "2017-01-06T01:33:52Z")
Yep, and [here is the Pats-Ravens one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb3RQejm_UI) (first clip.) That’s actually why I said that it was impressive and I was surprised, because it seems from the couple dozen or so of NFL games I watch every year, I see something like this happen at least once. But I wasn’t sure, since I watch a reasonable amount of college ball, too, and I might be conflating the two. At any rate, should be interesting to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/54 "2017-01-06T02:09:44Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > One additional wrinkle is that if the kicking team touches but doesn’t “down” the ball it is automatically an illegal touching penalty but the play goes on. The receiving team can still pick it up and run with it. If they don’t like the results of the run back (even to the point of a fumble) they can accept the illegal touching penalty at the spot of the foul. If they like the results of the play they can decline the penalty. It doesn’t happen very often but it does happen. But, if there is illegal touching and the receiving team gains possession of the ball, commits a foul on the play and fumbles such that the kicking teams gains possession, the foul is not offset by illegal touching (because illegal touching is a violation, not a foul) and the kicking team retains possession of the fumble. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/55 "2017-01-06T03:28:28Z")
I posted before **pulykamell** edited, and so misunderstood him. I thought that by “muff”, he meant the kicking team screwing up (kicker missing the ball and falling on his butt, or something). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/56 "2017-01-06T03:35:55Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > There were definitely muffed punts this year - the Patriots had one against the Ravens in week 14. And it was a clear muff - the returner let it hit his leg, then the Ravens recovered it. Maybe it counts as “downed” ? It wouldn’t be returned, since in a usual muff, the returner never establishes possession of the ball. My guess would be that a muffed punt is classified on that list as “returned,” since, by touching the punted ball, the receiving team establishes possession, even if the returner doesn’t actually control the ball. It probably is classified as a fumble for the returner (or whoever touched the ball), as well. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/57 "2017-01-06T13:23:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I posted before **pulykamell** edited, and so misunderstood him. I thought that by “muff”, he meant the kicking team screwing up (kicker missing the ball and falling on his butt, or something). > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My guess would be that a muffed punt is classified on that list as “returned,” since, by touching the punted ball, the receiving team establishes possession, even if the returner doesn’t actually control the ball. It probably is classified as a fumble for the returner (or whoever touched the ball), as well. “Muff” has a specific definition in the [NFL Rulebook](http://operations.nfl.com/media/1807/2015_nfl_rule_book_final.pdf), Rule 3, Section 2, Article 6: > [@](#): > > MUFF. A Muff is the touching of a loose ball by a player in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain possession of it. “unsuccessful” being the operative word, so the receiving team by definition didn’t establish possession. But yeah, the site **enalzi** used must have tossed muffs into one of the other categories. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/58 "2017-01-07T02:14:33Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My guess would be that a muffed punt is classified on that list as “returned,” since, by touching the punted ball, the receiving team establishes possession, even if the returner doesn’t actually control the ball. It probably is classified as a fumble for the returner (or whoever touched the ball), as well. The state of the ball at that point is still a “kick”, not possessed by either team. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/59 "2017-01-07T16:27:56Z")
Interesting thread for me. I’m American and my father watched football when I was growing up, but I was nerdy and unathletic and never had any interest in sports.\* So I never learned anything about football beyond the basics of scoring. Watching football is pointless for me, because I have no idea what’s going on, and I don’t ask others because at this point I don’t think anyone wants to hear a 40-year-old guy repeatedly asking “what just happened? Why’d he do that?” I go to Super Bowl parties if I’m invited, so as not to seem unsocial, but I just eat the wings, drink the beer, pretend to be looking at the screen, and hope no one tries to engage me in discussion about the actual game. I knew everything in the flowchart linked upthread, but not many of the rules other posters have mentioned. For example: > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > TOne, the ball cannot have crossed the line of scrimmage (which is the line where the ball was placed at the start of the play). That’s news to me. Seems like a pretty basic concept, but I never knew it. So the quarterback can’t start rushing and then pass? > [@Chronos](#): > > The play usually ends in one of three ways: If the quarterback throws a pass, but nobody catches it, that’s an incomplete pass. The line of scrimmage doesn’t move (it doesn’t matter where the quarterback was before throwing, or where the ball ended up), and the game clock is stopped until the start of the next play. Wait, so neither team is eligible to pick it up? > [@](#): > > If the person carrying the ball moves out of bounds, then the game clock is stopped, and the line of scrimmage is moved to where the ball went out. If the person carrying the ball is tackled, then the game clock keeps running, and the line of scrimmage is moved to where the ball was when he went down (so you’ll sometimes see the guy getting tackled reach forward to get an extra couple of feet on the ball). This is news to me too and I never would have suspected this. Especially since so often the receiver winds up running out of bounds in an effort to avoid getting tacked. Who would have thought that the clock would stop in one case, but keep going in the other? > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > At least one additional rule (though this may be a fine point for JoseB): > > Not every member of the offense is eligible to catch a forward pass. There are five members of the offensive team who are designated as “lineman” – unless the offense is running a very rare “trick” play, those linemen are the center (the man who starts each play by “snapping” the ball to the quarterback), and the two players on either side of him. Linemen aren’t eligible to catch a pass, and if they do, it’s a penalty. I also never knew this. What is this penalty called? > [@Dioptre](#): > > One of the useful watching tips it took me a while to learn … > > When the two sides line up, there are five beefy guys along the front of the offense. They’re the “Offensive Line”. On a typical running play, they will burst forward and try to create gaps. On a typical passing play, they will fall back to create a protected “pocket” for the quarterback. > > It’s easiest to tell what is going on if you watch what the offensive line are doing first, rather than trying to work out what is happening by watching the quarterback. The quarterback is trying to deliberately mislead using his body language, so it’s easy for your eyes to get sucked in the wrong direction. > > If the offensive line falls back, it’s a contest for the defense to get to the quarterback before the quarterback gets the ball to an open receiver. There will be a main person they are trying to throw two, and one or more backup options if that person is too well defended. > > If the offensive line blasts forward, the quarterback will hand or toss the ball to a running back who will try to get through or around the defense. This sounds like an interesting tip and I’l have to remember to try it next time I try to watch football. One of my biggest complaints about watching football, one hurdle I’ve never seemed to be able to get over, is that after the snap, I can’t tell who has the ball until it’s passed, or the guy carrying it starts making a clear run with it, or gets tackled or fumbled. It seems like the quarterback always looks like he’s doing a handoff, and everyone else watching except me can somehow intuitively tell whether it was a real handoff or a fake one. I’ve never understood how they could tell; maybe this is it. \*Fathers, no matter how nerdy and unathletic your son is, drag him away from his books and video games for half an hour every day when he’s a kid and drill him in the practice of throwing a football in a proper spiral until he can do it. He’ll curse you then, but the alternative is that he’ll curse you for the rest of his life every time he goes to picnic, the other guys start tossing a football around, one of them tosses it to him, and he embarrasses himself. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302/60 "2017-01-07T17:03:46Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > That’s news to me. Seems like a pretty basic concept, but I never knew it. So the quarterback can’t start rushing and then pass? Not if he crosses the line of scrimmage. He can scramble and forward pass as long as he is behind the line of scrimmage. So, since the quarter back is behind the yard of scrimmage (sometimes a few yards, in the case of shotgun and similar formations), he usually does have a little room to go forward before passing, but not too much. And once he crosses the line, he can’t go back and pass forward. > [@](#): > > Wait, so neither team is eligible to pick it up? Not if it’s an incomplete pass. The play is dead once the ball hits the ground. This also stops the clock. Now, if it touches someone, bounces up in the air, and someone catches it before it hits the ground, that ball is live. It’s also important to know what the definition of an incomplete pass is because that comes up quite often when a quarterback is sacked and the ball is loose. If the ball is jarred loose while the quarterback’s arm is cocked or cocking back during his passing motion, before there is any forward movement of the arm, then it’s a fumble. If it’s jarred loose as his throwing arm is going forward to make a pass, then it’s an incomplete pass (though still can be picked up by either team before it hits the ground.) > [@](#): > > This is news to me too and I never would have suspected this. Especially since so often the receiver winds up running out of bounds in an effort to avoid getting tacked. Who would have thought that the clock would stop in one case, but keep going in the other? This especially becomes important when time management enters the game. If the clock is running out and the team is short on timeouts or wants to save them, you will see receivers and ball carriers purposely run out of bounds rather than eke out an extra yard or three where possible in order to stop the clock. That’s also why you tend to see passing plays, and specifically towards the sidelines, in the waning seconds of a game when a team is behind and needing to score. There is also another way of stopping the clock where you don’t have timeouts called “spiking the ball.” It’s basically an intention incomplete pass thrown immediately to the ground by the quarterback in order to stop the clock. Similarly, if a team is ahead in the waning seconds of the game, they may just “take a knee” for a loss of down and keep the clock running to run it out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-american-football-to-someone-who-is-basically-ignorant-of-it/776302.md?page=4)