Howard Becker is a self-proclaimed “sports nut”, and has been a die-hard Chicago Bears fan for as long as he can remember.
During the professional football season, his Sundays are reserved watching his beloved Bears. When he’s not watching football, he’s usually talking football with friends. “I pretty much eat, breathe and sleep football during the season.” He never misses a score or statistic. “I’m just your average fan”, says Howard.
For those of you who want to learn football and join this craze called the NFL (National Football League), this is for you. Here are some football basics to get you started:
- An NFL team has 53 players; some play on Offense (unit that possession of the ball and is trying to score); some play on Defense (unit that attempts to stop its opponent’s Offense from scoring) and some play on Special Teams (units that are on the field for kickoffs, punts and field goals)
- At any given time, a team has 11 players on the field
- The Offense attempts to advance the ball past its opponent's goal line and score touchdowns (worth 6 points) or move it into field goal range for its Kicker to attempt a field goal (worth 3 points)
- There are two type of plays - passing and rushing (running)
- An Offense has four plays (downs) to advance the ball at least 10 yards; if it does so, it maintain possession of the ball; if it doesn’t, it may have to give up possession to its opponent
- The amount of time a team has possession of the ball throughout the game is called its “Time of possession”; the longer, the better. This is critical, because if you don’t have the ball, you can’t score!
- When a team loses possession of the ball to its opponent, through an interception (throwing a forward pass that an opponent catches) or fumble (when the ball carrier loses possession), it commits a “turnover”. Turnovers can be the difference between winning and losing. Each time a team commits a turnover, it gives itself one less and its opponent one more opportunity to score
- Finally, when someone asks you the score of the game, remember to always say the name of the team that is winning or that has won first. For example, if the Bears are leading the Lions 14 - 10, say something like “The Bears are up fourteen to ten”, NOT “The Bears are winning ten to fourteen”. If the score is 10 - 0, say “It’s ten oh, Bears.” Notice the use of the word “oh”? If its 17 - 17, say “It’s seventeen all.” Notice the use of the word “all”? Get the idea?
For more football info, visit www.learnprofootball.com
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