# Why is Football in America so very regimented? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 21, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992 "2011-12-21T20:39:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/61 "2011-12-22T12:12:46Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > As to the OP, a bunch of us at work were discussing American football recently. We are all league fans. Someone remarked that there is no “Wow” factor in American football. You just watch the play unfold and it is successful or not but it rarely contains a surprise. We kind of like Tebow because seeing a QB scramble is a novelty otherwise all they do is handoff or pass. A great playmaker in League, say Thurston or Benji Marshall will make up plays on the fly that are that “Wow” factor because you don’t see them coming. [Here’s Marshall](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj8bRsA4Jkg) in action. Apart from, you know, turnovers (fumbles, interceptions etc). Different type of surprise, but a surprise it is. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/62 "2011-12-22T13:55:06Z")
I’ve often wondered if Australians enjoy American football. I was never more than a very casual watcher of American football, but once I discovered Aussie Rules I could never watch American football at all because it just seemed so slow and fussy. By contrast, Aussie Rules is an exciting spectator sport, with non-stop action until the last second of the game. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/63 "2011-12-22T14:29:40Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > 20 yards, actually. Right, or 25 yards Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/64 "2011-12-22T15:48:12Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > But most of the time in soccer things are constantly in motion and people are constantly improvising what precisely they should be doing at that exact moment. Not that it really detracts from your point, which is well taken, but I don’t think improvisation really covers what football players do. There is a lot of pre-planning and strategizing, and the players really have a feel for where all of them are at any given moment during the game - or at least, if they’re playing well, they should be able to know blindly where other players are, and they often do. For this reason too, club teams are usually considered to be better than country teams. > [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Correct. > > The term is a little old fashioned these days, but once upon a time you could ask which football code you followed. IE Rugby League, Rugby Union, Australian Rules, or Soccer. I presume it derived from the sense of the different ‘code of rules’ for the game > > In a country which has four different games which can all be called football, it’s an often asked question. Is soccer really part of that set? Even though I call it football, I never thought of it as being essentially the same as American or Canadian or Australian rules football, or rugby, all of which I do thnk of as the same game with marginally different rules. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/65 "2011-12-22T16:14:06Z")
> [@Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](#): > > But anyway, I digress, one of the things I have noticed about the American style of football is that the “mode of play” is overly ordered and laid out in such a way that its like playing a big human board game like chess or snakes’n’ladders. > By this I mean, there is a lot of stopping and starting and Defence comes on and Offence goes off and vice versa, If you look at it carefully, American football is not too much different from Rugby League. The main difference is caused by the fact that, in American football, there is unlimited substitution, so this allows for having specialty players on offense and on defense, rather than pretty much everybody having to stay on the field for the entire match. Well, that and the forward pass rule, which means that an offensive player well ahead of the ball is not offside and needs to be guarded. I think most of the differences between rugby and American football were brought about for safety purposes. 100 years ago, it was a very dangerous game. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/66 "2011-12-22T17:04:25Z")
The average American football coach, it should be noted, is an anal-retentive control freak for whom the primary problem with regimentation is that there isn’t nearly enough of it. Players are constantly _failing to execute_ and _blowing assignments_. Defenders fail to stay in their lanes and fail to keep contain. Players line up in the wrong place and forget the snap count. If only players had more discipline, and more reps in practice, these problems could be avoided! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/67 "2011-12-22T17:21:46Z")
> [@Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](#): > > as of yet I haven’t chosen a team to ROOT (which means a totally different thing in Australia) for but no doubt I will. > > If anyone wants to make suggestions here please feel free to do so. Don’t like popular teams that win day in and day out and year in and year out, kind of more go for the underdog (you know, a team that doesn’t always make it but has the capabilities to snatch victory from behind). You are a perfect candidate to be a Cincinnati Bengals fan. They are almost always underdogs, every few seasons they have some success without winning actual championships, and like you, they don’t know much about football either. 🙂 Plus they have the coolest-looking uniforms in the NFL. Who doesn’t like tigers? > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Oh, and if you’re looking for an NFL team to root for, may I humbly suggest the Green Bay Packers? The Packers are the new Steelers. Everyone hates them. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/68 "2011-12-22T17:34:18Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > This thread is why hockey is a much better spectator sport. I love football, but I agree with this 1000%. > [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > We kind of like Tebow because seeing a QB scramble is a novelty otherwise all they do is handoff or pass. Another reason why the CFL game rules are slightly better… with only 3 downs, if there is no pass option the quarterback is _much_ more likely to make a run for it than in the NFL. Also, the play clock between downs is only 20 seconds, not 40 like in the NFL (or 25 in NCAA). Only one time-out per half - that can be lost on a failed challenge flag - rather than three per team tends to hurry the game up significantly. Games rarely end with nearly a minute and a half left on the clock in the CFL, because only 40 seconds can be run off…and the game must end on a play, so the clock can read 0:00 and a final play can still begin…so it’s worth it to play until the final whistle, especially if a team is only down by one possession. I don’t remember the stats, but I seem to recall something like 40-50% of CFL games in a season being decided within the final 3 minutes of the game…the lead/scoring can change that rapidly. Rugby fans might appreciate [this wild ending](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5BFaykcxGg) (I know, I know, I post it a lot!) while NFL fans usually say “dafuck?” Seriously, better rules 🙂 ---
**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:** [December 22, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/69 "2011-12-22T17:35:55Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Plus they have the coolest-looking uniforms in the NFL. Who doesn’t like tigers? Who doesn’t like [helmets](http://www.fremontdie.com/images/NFL%20Products/MagnetsNFL/12%20Inch%20Magnets/NEW/12in_Bengals-%28Helmet%29.jpg) which look like someone left a four-year-old alone in a room with plain orange helmets and a black Sharpie? 😉 ---
**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:** [December 22, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/70 "2011-12-22T17:40:44Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Rugby fans might appreciate [this wild ending](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5BFaykcxGg) (I know, I know, I post it a lot!) while NFL fans usually say “dafuck?” That _is_ a great play. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/71 "2011-12-22T18:00:02Z")
> [@Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](#): > > At the moment I have been following the US footy and as of yet I haven’t chosen a team to ROOT (which means a totally different thing in Australia) for but no doubt I will. There’s a lot of different approaches you can take for picking a favorite team. Study their history, consider the city and region they’re in, consider their fan base and how much you identify with them, and consider their rivals. A few places to start: **Green Bay Packers** : Small market team, lovable blue-collar “cheesehead” fans (Wisconsin is known for its dairy farms), and a rich history. If I wasn’t born or raised in the US, I’d be cheering them on. The **Pittsburgh Steelers** are another blue-collar favorite. **Buffalo Bills** : The loveable losers of the NFL, much like the Chicago Cubs of American baseball. The most loyal fans in the NFL; one of the smallest markets, but they regularly fill one of the largest home stadiums. There’s Bills Backers clubs in Sydney and Melbourne. The **Cleveland Browns** , 300 km to the west, are a similar struggling but beloved team with a much richer heritage than the Bills. The problem with being a Bills or Browns fan: you’ll be cheering on a team that will probably never win the Super Bowl in your lifetime. IMHO, it’s kind of cliche to cheer on large-market or prominent teams, like the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, San Fransisco 49ers and the like. It’s sort of like being yet another American who’s a Man U or Real Madrid fan. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/72 "2011-12-22T18:18:42Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > You are a perfect candidate to be a Cincinnati Bengals fan. They are almost always underdogs, every few seasons they have some success without winning actual championships, and like you, they don’t know much about football either. > 🙂 > Plus they have the coolest-looking uniforms in the NFL. Who doesn’t like tigers? Aside from not being particularly fond of American football (for many of the same reasons as the OP, plus… dear god, so many rules!), you have done an excellent job of describing why this born-and-raised-in-the-'Nati boy has without a second thought completely turned his football allegiances (such as they are) to the Steelers, in honor of my alma mater, Pitt. On the other hand, while I cheer for the Yankees as a NYer, I’ll never really turn my back on the Reds. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/73 "2011-12-22T18:45:07Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > I don’t remember the stats, but I seem to recall something like 40-50% of CFL games in a season being decided within the final 3 minutes of the game…the lead/scoring can change that rapidly. Rugby fans might appreciate [this wild ending](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5BFaykcxGg) (I know, I know, I post it a lot!) while NFL fans usually say “dafuck?” I think I might be one of those NFL fans. I understand the basics of Canadjen football, but I don’t quite get the kicking back and forth action. Why would the guy in the endzone kick it back? Could he take a knee for a touchback or try to run it? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/74 "2011-12-22T19:08:34Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > this born-and-raised-in-the-'Nati boy has without a second thought completely turned his football allegiances (such as they are) to the Steelers Traitor! Turncoat! Benedict Arnold! May you boil in a vat of Skyline Chili for all eternity for your most egregious of transgressions! Holy shit dude…that’s like the worst thing you could have possibly done! Does your family still speak to you? For the love of Pete…root for Pitt because its you’re alma mater if you must, but not the Stealers! Noooooo! ---
**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:** [December 22, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/75 "2011-12-22T19:13:15Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I understand the basics of Canadjen football, but I don’t quite get the kicking back and forth action. Why would the guy in the endzone kick it back? Could he take a knee for a touchback or try to run it? Keep in mind that the game was tied at the start of the play. In Canadian football, if a team kicks a ball into the end zone (such as on a missed field goal, but also on a kickoff or punt), and the “receiving” team doesn’t return it out of the end zone (or if it goes out of bounds in the end zone), the kicking team gets a single point. So, if that missed field goal hadn’t been returned out of the end zone, Montreal would have gotten a single point, and won the game. However, in addition to running the missed kick out of the end zone, the receiving team has another option: they can punt it out. When the Toronto returner realized that he wasn’t going to get out without being tackled (he fielded it near the back of the 20-yard-deep end zone, and had Montreal players converging on him), he punted the ball (and it was a pretty good punt, given the circumstances). At that point, when a Montreal player caught the ball (and, as it turned out, it was Montreal’s kicker who fielded the punt), he could punt it back into the end zone, forcing Toronto to either return the ball out of the end zone, or punt it again. However, neither happened…Toronto muffed the punt, and Montreal recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/76 "2011-12-22T19:18:24Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Keep in mind that the game was tied at the start of the play. > > In Canadian football, if a team kicks a ball into the end zone (such as on a missed field goal, but also on a kickoff or punt), and the “receiving” team doesn’t return it out of the end zone (or if it goes out of bounds in the end zone), the kicking team gets a single point. So, if that missed field goal hadn’t been returned out of the end zone, Montreal would have gotten a single point, and won the game. > > However, in addition to running the missed kick out of the end zone, the receiving team has another option: they can punt it out. When the Toronto returner realized that he wasn’t going to get out without being tackled (he fielded it near the back of the 20-yard-deep end zone, and had Montreal players converging on him), he punted the ball (and it was a pretty good punt, given the circumstances). > > At that point, when a Montreal player caught the ball (and, as it turned out, it was Montreal’s kicker who fielded the punt), he could punt it back into the end zone, forcing Toronto to either return the ball out of the end zone, or punt it again. However, neither happened…Toronto muffed the punt, and Montreal recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. Thanks **kenobi** that definitely clarifies things. And it turns out that was a pretty wild ending after all. 😃 It still sounds crazy to me that a missed field goal is worth a point though. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/77 "2011-12-22T19:42:32Z")
It’s worth a point if it isn’t brought back out by the defense (teams often have a returner in the end zone to try and run it out specifically for this reason), or if it goes out of bounds…it isn’t worth a point on it’s own. And it makes a certain amount of sense… if the whole point of the game is to get the ball into the end zone to score points, then getting the ball into the end zone should give you points, no? ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/78 "2011-12-22T20:07:35Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > A great playmaker in League, say Thurston or Benji Marshall will make up plays on the fly that are that “Wow” factor because you don’t see them coming. [Here’s Marshall](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj8bRsA4Jkg) in action. Having watched that highlight reel, I’m not really seeing the big difference between Marshall and, say, [James Harrison](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAIcUyg50TU). Unless Marshall is doing that kind of thing once a game, and then I have to wonder where the other team’s defense is. > [@Chicken\_Fingers](#): > > I’ve often wondered if Australians enjoy American football. I was never more than a very casual watcher of American football, but once I discovered Aussie Rules I could never watch American football at all because it just seemed so slow and fussy. By contrast, Aussie Rules is an exciting spectator sport, with non-stop action until the last second of the game. As a fan of both, well, I think you’re missing out on the strategic decision-making and deception that is the highlight of American Football. Non-stop action is all well and good, but the ability for a coach to set up a sequence of plays that result in a flummoxed opponent defense is a joy to behold. For the casual viewer uninterested in learning the strategy behind what’s happening on the field, American Rules may well be tied with Association/Soccer as the least exciting of the football-type games, for similar reasons–both are at extremes of the way the rules can work (stop after EVERY play vs. NEVER stop) and as such have some interesting variations in strategy. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/79 "2011-12-22T20:11:01Z")
Back to the OP: it’s the 10 yards = new set of downs (another 4 tries to get 10 yards) rule that drives the whole structure of the American game. The offense knows that all they have to do is retain possession and move the ball 10 yards (“keep moving the chains” is the way sportscasters and jocks describe it) and they will eventually be in excellent position to put points on the board. This rewards structured play calling, and retention of the ball at all costs. Turnovers (inadvertently losing possession to the defense) are the most horrible thing that can happen. There is a direct correlation between turnovers and losing. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992/80 "2011-12-22T20:36:15Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > It’s very much like a chess game. The chess element gives it a powerful strategic dimension to go along with the purely tactical play-by-play considerations. That’s what makes it an utterly different sport. I would turn that around. What American football has is an abundance of _tactics_, that is, precisely planned plays. All sports have strategy, whereby the teams and coaches hope to gain advantage through some rather vague, overall approach to the play (consider soccer formations, for example), but as argued above, other team sports are not dominated by set-pieces in the way that American football is. Even other “discrete play” sports like baseball and cricket are not as tactical as American footbal. The pitching/bowling team can’t make much of a plan for a particular play, because they don’t really know where the ball is going to go. And the batting team doesn’t have much choice except to hit the ball somewhere that the other guys can’t get it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-in-america-so-very-regimented/606992.md?page=5)