Britain's Football Brains

There has always been a degree of confusion surrounding the majority of non-Americans and an understanding of American Football. Many people make the observation that watching the NFL is ‘like watching rugby with pads on’. This presumption is based almost entirely upon the fact that the ball is a similar shape. This is just about all the two sports have in common, the rules, the scoring and the conduct is completely different. I endeavour to give all new fans of the game an opportunity to understand the rules and some basic background information through this simple step-by-step guide. I promise that if you read what’s written below it will open you up into an entirely new realm of understanding and enjoyment. Every fan has to start somewhere and I guarantee that you will find the game far easier to understand than you first thought.

The NFL

• The highest standard of professional American Football is the National Football League (NFL)
• The NFL consists of 32 franchises (teams)
• 16 of these teams play in the American Football Conference (AFC)
• 16 of these teams play in the National Football Conference (NFC)
• The Superbowl is a grand final between the winner of the AFC and the winner of the NFC
• Each Conference is divided into 4 divisions: North, South, East and West
• Each of these divisions consist of 4 teams which are relatively local to one another
• The season is divided into 3 sections – the preseason, the regular season and the post-season
• In the preseason each team plays 4 teams from anywhere in the NFL – the match-ups are random and the results do not count towards
  anything
• In the regular season teams play 6 games versus the other teams in their division (home and away)
• They also play 4 games against a division within their Conference (one in the NFC) and 4 versus a team in the opposing Conference
  (one in the AFC)
• Each season the schedule rotates to play different divisions
• Teams also play two fixtures against teams which were ranked in a similar position to them in the previous season – e.g. the team which
  finished third in the AFC South will play the team that finished third in the AFC West)
• This completes the 16 game regular season
• The winners of each division automatically qualify for the post-season (the play-offs)
• These eight teams are joined by the two runners-up with the best records in each Conference
• This leaves the 12 best teams in the post-season
• There is no relegation for teams who do not reach the play-offs
• The AFC and NFC then compete in separate knock-out matches
• On Wild Card Weekend the two runners-up play against the two division winners with the lowest winning record
• The winners advance to the next stage of the play-offs
• The divisional winners with the best records get a bye for Wild Card Weekend
• On Divisional Weekend the winners from Wild Card weekend and the remaining divisional winners face-off in knock-out contests
• The remaining four teams advance to Championship Weekend
• The Championship Games decide the best teams in the NFC and AFC
• The winner goes on to represent their Conference in the Superbowl – held in a neutral host city
• The winners of the Superbowl are crowned World Champions and receive the Vince Lombardi Trophy

The off-season

• Unfortunately for fans the NFL’s playing season only spans a three month period
• However, the NFL engages in an off-season with various landmark events
• Each season players contracts expire, or players are cut for poor performance
• The NFL operates under a cap-system so that teams cannot simply buy their way to victory
• An NFL roster (team) can only spend a certain amount of money on its 53 players
• This means that contract negotiations are carefully planned and considered
• When contracts expire players enter free-agency
• They may be resigned by their old teams, or they may be offered a better deal by another team
• Good players who demand higher wages are sometimes forced to lower demands to sign for a team
• Free agency opens in early March and players are free to talk to teams about contracts from that point
• Teams who want a particular player who is not out of contract may execute a trade, swapping draft picks or an alternative player for the
  one they want
• Unlike in soccer these trades are never made by swapping a player for money
• The draft is the off-season’s most highly anticipated event
• On the last weekend of every April, New York’s Radio City Music Hall plays host to the NFL Draft
• The draft consists of the best eligible players from college football (the NCAA)
• Through an ordered selection system teams are able to pick the players they want to join their team – they later sort out contracts in
  private negotiations
• All players entering the draft accept that they will play for whichever team drafts them
• The worst team from the previous season has the first pick in the draft, with the Superbowl Champion having the thirty-second pick
• The draft consists of seven rounds of thirty two picks
• Teams often trade for higher draft picks in exchange for more draft picks lower down the order
• The NFL also awards some additional picks as compensation for players lost in free-agency in previous years
• The hype and excitement surrounding the draft is enthralling and experts spend days predicting who will draft who!
• The off-season finishes with training camp, which is the athletes build-up period before the preseason games

The game itself

• An NFL roster is made up of 53 players eligible to play in any given game
• The aim of the game is to score more points than your opponent
• A touchdown is worth 6 points and is scored by entering the end-zone with the ball (you do not need to touch it down as you do in
  rugby)
• A touchdown is followed by an extra-point which is kicked through the posts for one point
• A field goal is kicked from further out an is worth three points
• An offense has four chances (downs) to make a 10 yard gain
• If the offense passes 10 yards on any play then they are given a fresh set of four downs
• Normally, if a team cannot reach the 10 yard target in three downs they will punt or kick a field goal depending on field position
• Each game consists of four 15 minute quarters with short pauses between each and a longer break at half time
• Every time a play is blown dead the clock stops
• If a pass or a run in completed within the boundary of the field then the clock continues to run
• Each team has three time outs per half to stop the clock tactically
• Each team is divided into three sections – an offense, a defence and special teams
• At the beginning of every game is a coin toss featuring the captains from offense, defence and special teams from both sides
• The winner of the coin toss elects to kick-off or receive the kick-off
• Enter special teams…

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