What Is Football’S Internal Line?

This has been very helpful thank you, my son is playing 3rd/4th grade football. Not an athlete at all in my case, was in high-school band but could care less about learning anything outside of scoring and some fouls. Now I’m trying to catch up and understand for my son, when your kid is interested in a sport or hobby it’s time to learn something.

This is a really good article! As a nigerian that has followed the sport for a few years now, it was important. I pretty much already understood the game, but this has helped me actually see more like the difference between slot and outside receivers. Thanks! I will recommend your website to my fellow Nigerians!

My family had always been big on football but I never gave it a true shot…. Superbowl this past Sunday was my first EVER full football game watched all the way through and I fell in love!! I spent the whole next night perusal reels and highlights and backstories and whatnot. THISSSS is exactly what I need rn because I now have self appointed football homework 😂😂 Thank you ever so kindly 🙏🏽

Stopped wathcing when it started to give confusing and bad information to explain the offensive team. You should begin by stating that there a total of eleven players which will fill in different positions. The most important fact to start with is by explaining the scrimmage line, which is an imaginary line where a minimum of seven offense players need to be positioned. Then begin defining each line position starting with the one Center, the two Guards, the two Tackles, and the two Ends. These last two are referred one the tight end if he’s positioned right next to the Tackle, and the other referred to as the “Split-end” if positioned on the line of scrimmage but at a few yards away from the Tackle. The rules allow for these “end positions” as the only linemen that are eligible receivers if they wish to catch a pass thrown to them. However they are not allowed to be given the ball by the quarterback as in a hand-off. Now let’s get into the offensive backs. These four players are made up of the Quarterback, the Running Backs, and the Receivers. There is only one Quarterback who is in charge of making the calls, handling the ball either to hand off to a Running Back or to pass the ball to a receiver and eligible receivers. The Running Backs may be three, two or just one player, respectively referred to as the Tailback, the Halfback, and the Fullback. The remaining offensive back player is referred to as the Wide Receiver, who besides being allowed to catch a pass as his main objective, he is also eligible to have the ball handed off to him in the backfield.

A someone who watches but does not completely understand in intricacies, I have two questions. 1. For something like a field goal attempt or a punt, do the whole 11 players on both teams swap, or do some of the offensive and defensive players remain? 2. Is the centre allowed to fake the snap, and the QB pretend to have the ball, to draw the defensive line past the guards and tackles so that the centre can run to gain ground?

Coming from the UK I would’ve understood very little of this except star roles, but hammering 2K NFL for a few years I learnt all these spots except a couple subtleties – great to learn thanks. What I’ve never learnt is some of the rules such as who’s allowed to line up where, who is eligible to receive, offside etc.

Outside linebackers (such as Pittsburgh Steelers weak side often left outside linebacker TJ Watt) do defend the run, cover tight ends, sometimes running backs, or even wide receivers in the passing game, and pass-rush, but pass-rushing and stopping the run is much more common, they’re most often edges/edge rushers with some coverage skills. A Middle/Inside Linebacker Will likely stay back and defend the run or drop back into coverage (take San Francisco 49ers Middle Linebacker Fred Warner).

I’m teaching my boys about Football and Wow, this is the best article I’ve seen. And I’ve watched ones with millions of views, most are terrible. As an animator myself, I can tell you put a ton of work into this, keep it up! I Liked, subscribed, and am dropping a comment to encourage the algorithm to promote your content. Thanks and God bless!

I learned the rules through playing the game during my childhood. Now I have a son who is 5 years old who wanted to know the rules of the game his father gets all worked up about. I never realized how complicated it is to explain the rules of this game until I had to try explaining it to him. You made it look easy. Bravo!

this article helped me out tremendously. My son is obsessed with football, and I want to help him, but I have always been involved in individual sports (skateboarding, Kickboxing). My son has zero interest in what I know, so now it’s time to learn his sport. Nothing is worse than having to ask your wife what is happening during a game 😒😒

As an Indian I started perusal NFL during Lockdowns and for some reasons started supporting 49ers just because I liked how they ran with the ball and they wear red jerseys like my favourite football team Arsenal without knowing most of the rules…. This is a great article man helped me understand how the game is played. I just don’t understand why most people are always beffing about football and American football all the time… I kinda like both 😅

There’s actually a delay of game on the defense too. Look at the Colts-Vikings game for example where a Vikings receiver (which I think was Justin Jefferson) catches the ball and gets held down by Colts defenders while trying to give the ball to the official. That set up a game winning field goal at the end.

Thank you for this – I’ve moved to the US recently from Australia and am a massive NRL fan back home, but have always wanted to get into the NFL but from Aus it’s fairly challenging from a timezone standpoint and I never had a good enough explanation of the rules, so I’ve found it hard to get into. But since moving I’ve been following in the 49s through the first few weeks and quite enjoying it. The NRL actually has a habit of taking ideas from the NFL, so it has some feelings of familiarity in areas because the NRL uses downs like the NFL instead of the messier rucks of Rugby Union. We’ve even had people suggest that we allow one forward pass per tackle in the NRL! One thing I never really understood was why teams didn’t pass laterally much, but the position breakdown here massively clarifies that.

What a great article! As a novice to understanding the game and also realizing that there is sooo much to it, I appreciate that you kept it simple and to the point. I am excited to watch the playoffs now with this basic understanding. I’ll definitely be able to ask better questions about the parts not covered here. Thanks!

Funny how it seems more difficult to understand when you’ve watched it your whole life then you listen to someone explain it ?! I find the terminology difficult to grasp when learning a new sport. American football has a language all its own. That’s true for most sports I suppose. Great job on the article.

Best way to understand American football is to play Madden on whatever console you own. Cheapest way to do that is to find an old PS2 and a copy of ESPN NFL 2K5 because not only does it have an extensive encyclopedia about American football but it also lets you create your own plays that explain what each type of play does as you select them, plus its more fun playing the game than just perusal it.

Well, technically the quarterback doesn’t call the plays. The offensive coordinator usually does this. In some instances the team’s head coach will call plays. Either way, the quarterback is responsible for relaying the play that was called to the rest of the offense on the field. This is further complicated by audibles. Teams don’t call just one play. They’ll usually call two. A run and a pass. One of the most important jobs a QB has is to read the defense before the snap and figure out if the original play is set up for success or if they should audible into the other play. For example, let’s say a pass was called but the defense has 4 linemen and 2 linebackers in the “box”. This leaves 5 defenders to play the pass. Not great for passing, so the QB should probably audible into a run since there are fewer defenders available to stop the run. Further complicating matters is that defenses are well aware of this strategy, and will often disguise coverages and schemes. What initially looked like a good time to run the ball may in fact see a safety move up and into the box right before the ball is snapped, foiling the run play that was audibled into. Long story short, this is obviously for more advanced fans, but it does give some insight to just how complicated football is

The quarterback does not snap the ball, the center does that. The quarterback can throw the ball to any eligible receiver, not just the wide receivers. A blitz is when anyone in addition to the defensive front line attacks that line of scrimmage. The defense can be called for delay of game. Virtually all the penalty calls are judgment calls. Your definition of false start is all wrong. The officials are incompetent. NFL football could be obsolete in 10 years due to the traumatic brain injuries caused by the sport. The sport kills people. No players left = no more NFL.

You left out one big difference between College and Pro football. In the NFL you have to be tackled(down by contact) by the other team but in college if you go down on your own you are down at that spot. Also a blitz doesn’t necessarily mean everyone coming other then the safeties. You can blitz one guy on a play…like either a LB, corner or safety. There are many different blitz packages/plays called by defenses.

I’m an American Football 🏈 fan over here in Northern Ireland and boy am I in the minority as soccer is so much the majority sport over here I’ve always thought that I have always went very much against the grain when it comes to the sport that I love. Over here it’s nearly expected that if you are a man you will LOVE soccer but I don’t. Each to their own but American Football 🏈 is the only “manly”team sport that I like IE I’m not a soccer, Rugby, Basketball, Ice Hockey, Baseball or Cricket fan. Heck I don’t even like car or motorbike racing. I’ve tried to explain to my friends by comparing Football 🏈 to Rugby League IE four downs v six tackles but with Rugby League not having renewal of tackles by distance but to no avail. GO 49ERS( even though they have just been prevented from reaching the Superbowl by the Eagles.😢😢😢

So let’s say, for simplicity’s sake, that the line of scrimmage is the 50y line. I sometimes hear “first down and 13”, even though the idea is to make 10 yards. Does that mean the play ended at their own 47 and they’ve lost yards? Also, what about when something like “1st down and 5” is “marked on the field” (obviously using a computer for tv, not actually marked on the field). Is that saying “the first tackle/fumble/whateve ended here, with 6 yards left at the time out of the 10”? If that’s the case, wouldn’t the arrow pointing to the spot be pointing to where they currently are, since plays start wherever the previous one ended? Furthermore, what about when a play ends and the narrator says something like “Smith goes down at the x yard line with x yards left until 3rd down”? A down that hasn’t happened yet has a designated spot on the field? Finally, at the beginning of or during a play, when the narrator says “this is 2nd down and 5”, are they doing the second play or the third? Aside from those overly specific questions: When a pass is attempted to someone across the field, I understand that the next play (if necessary) starts wherever the catcher was when he went down or, if he fumbled, where he was when the ball went down. If he takes it but runs out of bounds, does the next play start at the spot he crossed the line out of bounds? What about when no one catches the ball? What happens if a field goal is taken on 4th down? Does that cancel and supersede their chance at a touchdown?

I know it seems easy for americans, but how about giving proper definition to terms like “downs”, “punt” and “field goal” instead of giving the precise measurements of every individual part of the field? I swear, the yanks seem to absorb all these complexities with the mothers milk and are just incapable of explaining their sports as a result.

I’m very new to this sport, but I find this is the best way for me to learn. I do have a question that I wasn’t able to determine the answer to from the article. After the initial kickoff, what determines the original line of scrimmage? Does it have something to do with where the ball ends up after kickoff, or is it established elsewhere?

This article could be much simpler. Too many concepts and off subject things. What a weird ending statement, football isnt going away anytime soon. Huh…this article should be laid out like youre explaining it at the park to some kids. 2 teams trying to score. On offense you have 4 tries, or downs, to advance the ball 10 or more yards to get within range of a field goal or attemtps at a TD. If we score we can go for extra points 1 or 2. Now defensively we try to stop the other team from running or passi g like we tried to do on them. And so on. Whats so hard