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Someone please explain American Football to me?
john74
Posts: 1,729 Forum Member
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Watching NFL on Sky Sports 1. Struggling to stay with it through.
Can our American members please explain American Football? Don't you not get sick of all the stop plays?
Give me proper football any day.
Can our American members please explain American Football? Don't you not get sick of all the stop plays?
Give me proper football any day.
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Least with English Football and Rubgy you know the game can only last 80 and 90 minutes.
However the players are a bit dim so the players who form the attack are unable to defend so they have to keep changing teams. They even have a chap who's only job is to kick the ball :rolleyes:
They have 4 attempts to progress 10 yards up the field and if they fail, the other team gets the ball.
They wear lots of protection in case they get hurt
It's no more physical than Rugby.
I'm expecting a post from rugbynut in response any time soon...
Im 5'8, just over 10 stone and played rugby union at a decent level for a while when I was younger and never once suffered anything more than bruises.
After that I had 2 trials with an American Football team near Glasgow and never again. Padding only covers a small amount of your body and you are taught to use the helmet as a weapon and an asset. a WR running 50 yards at full speed taking a hit just as he's about to catch the ball is akin to being hit by a bus. Im sure the vast majority who have played both sports will agree. You have to be a serious headcase to play certain positions in American Football.
Basically, it is a game of strategy like chess, and you must plan your strategy throughout the game and think about your next move (like chess).
There are 3 teams per side - offence, defence and special teams. Basically you have 4 attempts or 'downs' to move the ball forward 10 yards. If you fail to do that, the ball goes over to the other team, who then try to do the same. When you move it forward 10 yards, you get another 4 goes to move it forward another 10 and so on.
You get 6 points for a touchdown when you get it in the endzone of the opposing team and 1 extra point to convert it through the ball being kicked through the goals. You get 3 points for a field goal and that is about it.
The excitement comes from analysizing the strategy - so when it stops, you look and think - here is what they need to do next - and then they do the opposite and you are outraged.
I know all that but the fasination of it escapes me.
Anyway I am off to bed. Nite.
well why ask foir an explanation of it?> why not just say you dont like it. pah
Cos some people like to ridicule things like this
What a load of b*****S. you should try running with a rugby ball at jerry collins of the all blacks, Josh lewsey of england, any south african rugby player. any samoan rugby player and hundreds of others.
Also rugby league where the tackles are even harder.
American football is a great game. but the padding they use is the reason the make the tackles they do. No other reason. You should try running into an 18 stone prop forward at full tilt without any form of padding or headgear on thats real badass! not wearing hard hats.
I like american football and Martin Johnson is doing good programme on sky 1 about it in the new year but I do not think it is a harder game at all.
did it!........................................................
that explains why they run so fast.............. :cool:
Yes, it's a very simple game............
Without going too far into tactics..............the 'offence' has two basic moves to gain yardage. At the start of a play all their team is behind the ball. As the centre passes the ball back through his his the play begins...........then they either 'run with it' or play a forward pass
Forward pass........the quick guys ( receivers) dash up field and try to get away from defenders to find space to catch the ball. The big lumps in the middle try to stop the defence big lumps getting to the Quarterback, who has the ball..........they need to protect him for 3 or 4 seconds till the receivers have got upfield. If a receiver has found some space the quarterback throws the ball..........if the receiver catches it play moves upfiled to the line of the catch
Running with the ball...........the quick guys still run upfield to distract and remove some defenders from the middle. The centre passes the ball to the QB who hands it off to a running back. The big lumps try to punch a hole through the defense for the running back to nip through.
Those are your two basic attacking ploys............needless to say, there's a hundred tactical variations around them.