Basics

Fundamentals : The Field

Last week we covered the bare basics of the Who: who’s on the 53-man roster. Today we’ll take a break from personnel and move on to the Where: the field.

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The field! You’ve seen the field before. No big deal. Let’s just dive into it a little bit more.

Here are the specs you need to know:

120 yards: the total length of the football field, which includes the 100-yard field and two 10-yard end zones

53.3 yards: the total width of the football field

10 yards: the length of each end zone (the goal posts are located at the back of each end zone)

5 yards: the distance between the yard lines across the field

1 yard: the distance between the hash marks

Aside from the numbers, there are a few important things to note about the field:

The Mysterious Yellow Line

You know that mysterious electronic yellow line that seems to follow teams around the field? That line is going to be your new best friend once you two get to know each other. It signifies how much further a team has to go to get a first down. (For the scoop on first downs, check out this post.) Once you understand the down system you’ll automatically know what the situation is for the offense depending on the down and distance and how close or far away they are from the yellow line. It’s a pretty handy tool for watching games on TV.

The Red Zone

The red zone isn’t red. But it is important! The red zone is identified as the 20 yards prior to the end zone. This is a critical area of the field, hence the high-alert title of “red zone,” because the offense is so close to the other teams end zone. When you hear commentators talking about a team nearing “the red zone,” this is the section of the field they are referring to.

Their “Own” Side of the Field/The Other Team’s “Territory”

A teams “own” side of the field is the 50 yards of field nearest to their end zone. When a team is on this side of the field and doesn’t convert on 3rd down, they are more likely to punt the ball away so that the other team doesn’t get a field position advantage. (To go for it on 4th down on your own side of the field and not convert is practically giving the other team points; you’ll have to turn the ball over on downs and the other team will already be on your side of the field.)

The other team’s “territory” is the 50 yards of field nearest to their end zone. Once you enter their territory, your chance of scoring – either by touchdown or field goal – is much greater. A team is less likely to punt the ball away if they’re inside of the other team’s territory.

A Note On Sides:

Teams don’t have the same end zone for the entire game. You’ll notice that both end zones are painted for the home team, which might be confusing if you are expecting each team to have their own individual end zone. This is because teams switch sides of the field after each quarter, to ensure fairness in playing conditions (weather, condition of the field, fans, etc).

Grass or Turf?

It’s a pretty even split, and there are advantages and disadvantages to both. You may have heard the Redskins take some flack for the condition of their field (grass) during the playoffs – and rightfully so. Hopefully, the NFL will intervene a few improvements to regulations before next season begins.

And there it is: the fundamental facts about NFL fields. Aren’t you glad to know more than you ever thought possible about where the game is played? Of course you are!

Fundamentals : 53-Man Roster

We’re going to start with the one thing you need to play a football game, other than a football:

A team.

There are 53 men on each NFL team. Clearly, they don’t all play at the same time. Here’s the breakdown:

So each week, 46 men dress to take the field. Those are the “active” players. The 7 players on the practice squad (also called the scout team) are “inactive” players – they are still on the roster, but they aren’t allowed to enter the game.

We know that even though a team might have 3 tight ends, 4 running backs, and 5 wide receivers on their active roster that not all of them are going to be on the field at the same time. Not only would that be a massacre waiting to happen (the offensive line does more than just protect the quarterback), it would also be illegal: each team can only have 11 men on the field at one time. Is the offense on the field? There can only be 11 guys out there. Defense? Same story. Special teams? Nothing special here: there are still only 11 men allowed on the field

from each team at one time.

So why are there so many men on the roster? If each unit only fields 11 players (and the special teams unit doesn’t even have it’s own specific set of players other than the 3 shown on the diagram), why are there 46 guys on the active roster?

Reason #1: Injuries. If one guy gets injured (and over the course of the season, pretty much every guy is getting injured), he’ll need a replacement. One of the second or third or fourth string guys will take the field to replace him.

Reason #2: Formations. Remember when we talked about personnel groups? And when we talked about defense before the Super Bowl? Teams utilize different players in different formations depending on the game plan they have in place. Maybe the offense sees that the other team’s defense is showing a weakness in the secondary so they want to try a passing play. They might field 10 personnel – 1 running back, 0 tight ends, and 4 wide receivers – to give the offense the best chance possible of gaining yardage on a long pass. Or maybe the defense, seeing that the other team’s offense is successfully converting on passing plays, wants to substitute in more defensive backs in either a nickel (5 DB’s) or a dime (6 DB’s) package to defend against the pass. Using different formations is an essential way that a team keeps the other team on it’s toes, guessing what they’re going to do.

If 53 men on the roster seems like a lot, remember that teams are allowed to bring 90 players into training camp. 90 players! So nearly half of those players get cut and keep training for their next opportunity. Being the coach who makes those cuts is a tough gig.

SO: 53 guys on a team. 46 active. 7 on the practice squad, or inactive. 11 on the field at one time.

Got it?

For more about who’s on the field, check out these posts:

The Basics : The Players

The Basics of Offense

The Basics of Defense

The Basics of Special Teams

Offseason Schedule 2013 : Fundamentals

This week, we’ll be previewing the offseason schedule. You can still expect posts every weekday, a mix of education, information and inspiration, nice people in the comments section, and a reason to hold onto hope: the 2013 season will be here before we know it. Here’s what we’ll be talking about until then:

We’re going to take a cue from Jerry Rice on this one – Jerry Rice, the greatest wide receiver of all time, but probably best known for having the greatest work ethic of all time:

“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.”

Now, let’s be real. We won’t be lifting tires and running routes and studying playbooks in the hopes of getting a Super Bowl ring. But we are training for something important. Why spend hours on end confused and frustrated every Sunday when you have the opportunity to be as well-educated as possible when the regular season arrives? Why not make the most of the time you’ll already spend watching the game – either because you like to have football on TV or because your family commandeers the TV for football every weekend – and actually know the game and enjoy it? By doing what most others won’t (studying football in the offseason), you’ll be able to accomplish what others can’t (understanding football in the regular season). It’ll be worth every ounce of effort you put into it!

What will we be learning? The broken-down basic basics. First downs and fumbles. Quarters and quarterbacks. Safeties and safeties. Anything you’ll need to know to successfully navigate the 2013 season. Have a question? Ask it! We’ll answer it on Mondays int he fundamentals posts.

See you here for the first Fundamentals post next Monday!

Super Sunday Study Session

If you’ve spent all of your time menu planning and party coordinating and have an impending sense of doom about the actual game part of game day, DON’T PANIC. It’s not too late! Here’s your last minute study session for Super Bowl Sunday:

If you have some free time this morning, read through these three posts and take the quiz at the end:

The Basics of Offense

The Basics of Defense

The Basics of Special Teams

Test Your Knowledge

Test Answers

If you’re too busy basting meatballs for subs and grating cheese for nachos, not to worry. I’ve got you covered! Here are the essential 10 Thing to Know When Watching a Football Game:

1. There are three components to every team: offense, defense, and special teams. The offense is the unit trying to move the ball down the field to score a touchdown in the defense’s end zone. The defense is the unit trying to stop the offense from scoring. Special teams is the unit on the field during kicking and punting plays.

2. A team has four chances, called downs, to move the ball 10 yards. You’ve probably heard the terms “1st and 10” and “3 and out” – they’re referring to the down system. If a team has a “1st and 10” it means they are on their first down (first chance) and still have to move the ball 10 yards from the line of scrimmage (the imaginary starting line) to get a new set of downs. If a team is at “2nd and 7” it means that it’s their second down and they have to move the ball 7 yards to get a new set of downs. The first number refers to the down (chance), the second is the number of yards to go until they reach 10 total yards and a new set of downs. You’ll know how much farther a team has to go to get to the first down marker thanks to the magic of television: it’s the electronic yellow line superimposed on the field.

3. If the offense doesn’t reach 10 total yards in 4 downs, they turn the ball over to the other team, right where they are. This isn’t good, especially if turning the ball over to the other team would put them in good field position to score. This is why a team will usually choose to use their first 3 downs to move the ball 10 yards and their final down to punt the ball away or kick a field goal, if they’re close enough.

4. The goal of the offense is to score in the following ways: Touchdown = 6 points. Extra Point (or PAT, Point After Touchdown) = 1 point. Field Goal = 3 points. 2-point conversion (when a team lines up at the 2 yard line and tries to get the ball in the endzone after a touchdown instead of kicking the extra point) = 2 points.

5. The goal of the defense is also to score: Safety (when the ball carrier is tackled in the offense’s end zone) = 2 points. Pick 6 (when a defensive player intercepts the ball and runs it into the end zone for a touchdown) = 6 points (and they will also kick the extra point afterward, making for a total of 7 points). Aside from scoring, the defense wants to force a “3 and out” – making the offense have to punt on 4th down, therefore going 3 downs without moving 10 yards and having to go “out” by punting.

6. The game is played in quarters, and each quarter is 15 minutes long. Those quarters are separated by halves – the first half and the second half – and those halves are separated by halftime, which is usually a 12-minute break but during the Super Bowl is elongated to just short of forever (or 30 minutes).

7. Each team gets three timeouts per half. There’s also a break at the 2-minute warning (when there are 2 minutes remaining) of each half. The game clock is the clock that keeps the total time remaining in each quarter; the play clock is the clock that keeps the total time remaining for each play. The offense has 40 seconds from the end of a play to start the next play – that’s what the play clock accounts for. If they don’t get the ball snapped in time, they’ll receive a 5-yard delay of game penalty.

8. The fifty yards of field from the offense’s end zone = their “own” side of the field. The fifty yards of field from the defense’s end zone = the defense’s “territory.” But the physical halves of the field for each team do not stay constant – teams rotate ends of the field after each quarter to make for fair playing conditions (especially in outdoor stadiums to account for sun, wind, etc).

9. Play continues after the 1st and 3rd quarters; play stops after the 2nd and 4th quarters. After the 1st and 3rd quarters the teams rotate ends of the field and play continues right where it left off. If the team on offense was at their own 40 yard line at 2nd and 7, they’ll still be on their own 40 yard line at 2nd and 7 once the next quarter begins, just on the opposite end of the field. But the same is not true after the 2nd and 4th quarters. After the 2nd quarter, play stops for halftime. When play resumes again it will be the beginning of the 3rd quarter and the team that did not kick off to start the game will kick off to start the new half, starting a new possession. And unless there’s a tie when the 4th quarter ends, the game is over.

10. Teams play in many, MANY different formations (alignment and combination of players). But in general, you can use these diagrams as a guide to know who is on the field for offense and defense:

Players on Offense:

Offensive Line: LT – left tackle, LG – left guard, C – center, RG – right guard, RT – right tackle

QB – quarterback

Offensive Personnel: RB – running back, TE – tight end, WR – wide receiver

Players on Defense:

Defensive Line: DE – defensive end, DT – defensive tackle

Defensive Front: Defensive line + LB’s – linebacker

Defensive Backs (The Secondary): CB – cornerback, FS – free safety, SS – strong safety

Ok! You’re so ready!!! Now go finish those subs and enjoy Super Bowl Sunday!

Surviving the Super Bowl : Special Teams

It’s hard to imagine that often times all of the complicated scheming and hard-fought battles between offenses and defenses are ultimately decided by one guy’s leg…but more often than not in a close game, that’s exactly what happens. It all comes down to a kick.

There are five types of kicks to be aware of, and you’re probably familiar with most of them:

1. Kickoffs: Kickoffs happen after scoring drives and at the beginning of each half. A coin is flipped at the beginning of the game to determine who kicks off first (the winner of the coin toss gets to decide whether they want to kick off first (and therefore play defense first) or defer to the second half (and therefore play offense first), a decision entirely based on strategy, not whim).

2. Punts: Teams punt the ball away when they have reached 4th down and don’t believe it wise (or possible) to try and get the extra yardage they need to get to the first down marker. (We talked about punts in more detail in the 4th down section of the basics of offense post, if you need a refresher.)

3. Field Goals: If a team is near the end zone and can’t score a touchdown in 3 downs, they’ll likely kick a field goal on 4th down. Field goals are worth 3 points. You might have noticed that the distance from the line of scrimmage to the end zone and the distance from the line of scrimmage to a field goal are different. You’re right! If a team is at the 30-yard line on 3rd down, they’ll be kicking a 47 yard field goal attempt, not a 30 yard field goal attempt. That’s because 17 yards are added to the distance to account for the 10 yards of end zone (the goal post is at the back of the end zone) and the space between where the line of scrimmage is and where the kicker lines up (7 yards away).

4. Extra Points: After a team scores a touchdown (6 points), they line up to kick an extra point (…you guessed it: 1 point!), for a total of 7 points. Barring a penalty, extra points are kicked from the 2-yard line. (If a team is behind and needs to catch up or even/exceed the score, they might “go for two,” which means that instead of kicking an extra point after a touchdown, they’ll line up at the 2 yard line and try to get the ball in the end zone. If they do, it’s worth 2 points.)

5. Onside Kicks: If a team is down by a lot of points late in the game and is slated to kick the ball off to the other team, they might attempt an onside kick to regain possession of the ball and try to score more points on offense. You’ll notice an onside kick attempt quickly and easily because the teams stand much closer to each other than they do for normal kickoffs. In an onside kick, the ball is kicked low to the ground and travels like a skipping rock. It must travel at least 10 yards, but the kicker will try to keep it as close to 10 yards as possible to give his team a greater chance of recovering the ball, since the other team is lined up closer than usual and has a greater likelihood of reaching the ball first. (For much more on onside kicks, see this post.)

* 6. Drop Kicks: Yesterday, my friend Jason politely pointed out that I had missed a category of kicks: drop kicks. And he was right! (And just a side note – that’s why I love writing this blog: I get to learn from writing the posts AND from all of you guys. So please never hesitate to bring up a question or point out something that might have been overlooked. It helps make the site better, and I’m all for that!) Drop kicks happen every once in a blue moon (literally), but are important to know about because they can easily catch the opposing team off-guard. As defined by the NFL rulebook, a drop kick is “a kick by a kicker who drops the ball and kicks it as, or immediately after, it touches the ground.” A team can drop kick a field goal or an extra point, but they can also drop kick a fair catch. A player signaling for the fair catch of a punt can receive the punt and then drop kick the ball in a field goal attempt. For more information about drop kicks, see this article. Thanks, Jason!

All of the kicking plays described above are executed by the special teams unit – an ironically named bunch seeing as how they usually get the short end of the respect stick. But special teams can truly make or break a season for a team. Have you ever seen a complete momentum shift after a team that was down returns a kickoff for a touchdown? That’s all special teams. How about when a team misses an opportunity to go to the playoffs due to missed field goal in the final seconds of the game? That’s special teams, too. It’s the unit that is either a team’s best friend or worst enemy.

The special teams unit is responsible for any play that involves punting or kicking. The placekicker and the punter are specialized positions specifically for the special teams unit. Those players only play on special teams. But guys who play on offense and defense can, and usually do, have a role in special teams as well as a roll on offense or defense. You might have heard of Wes Welker, who has long been one of the Patriots best wide receivers, but has also been a star on the return team. Ditto: Chicago’s Devin Hester (although Hester primarily shines in special teams). More often than not, though, rookies and second-string players are relegated to the less glamorous positions on the special teams units because they haven’t earned playing time on offense or defense yet.

And there you have it! Next week we’ll have a final review (hint: a quiz) to make sure you’re 100% ready, but if you’ve made it through the offense, defense, and special teams posts over the past few weeks, you are well on your way to Surviving the Super Bowl! Way to go!

(Do your own touchdown dance. Come on, just do it! You know you want to.)

Surviving the Super Bowl : The Basics of Defense

If you survived The Basics of Offense last week, you’re in luck. The Basics of Defense is much easier (the intricacies of defense, not so much – but that’s another post for another day). You’re going to breeze right through this, I know it!

First, let’s talk about who’s on the field and what they generally do:

A standard defense gets divided into two sections: the defensive front (7 players) and the defensive backs (4 players).

The Defensive Front:

Defensive Tackles (DT): The defensive tackles play on the inside of the defensive line (the line of players directly across from the offensive line). In a 3-4 system, as pictured above (3 defensive linemen and 4 linebackers), the defensive tackle is the player in the middle and is called the nose tackle. Don’t worry too much about the particulars, just know that the defensive tackles are in place to stop running plays as well as contain the offensive linemen in front of them (or him, if there’s only a nose tackle in place).

Defensive Ends (DE): The defensive ends play on the outside of the defensive line. If the offense runs the ball, the defensive end on the side of the run needs to stop the run. If it’s a passing play, the defensive end will rush (run at full speed) the quarterback in an attempt to sack him (tackle him to the ground).

Linebackers: There are several types of linebackers – you can learn more about the Mike, Sam, and Will linebackers in the glossary. What’s important to know is that linebackers are the teams best tacklers; they are responsible for guarding against both running and passing plays.

The Defensive Backs ( also known as the “secondary”):

Cornerbacks: Cornerbacks generally line up near the line of scrimmage directly across from the offense’s best wide receivers. You’d be right to wonder why they are called cornerbacks and collectively known as defensive backs if they play up front with the defensive front. You’re not crazy – that’s a legit question. Here’s the deal: as soon as the ball is snapped, the cornerbacks will backpeddle and take off running toward the backfield to cover the wide receivers who are also running in that direction (toward the end zone). So cornerbacks line up in the front of the formation, but in a split second they’ll be sprinting to the backfield, waiting to make a play on a long ball.

Safeties: Safeties generally play towards the inside and can move up to the front or to the back depending on their position. The free safety (FS) usually lines up the farthest back and defends the deep middle of the field against passing plays. His goal is to break up the pass or intercept the ball. The strong safety (SS) defends against the run and the pass; he lines up closer to the front of the formation, usually covering the tight end. (General Note: whatever side of the formation the tight end lines up on is called the “strong side” because he’s an extra player added to that side, which is why the safety covering the tight end is called the “strong” safety. See, it all connects!)

Putting It All Together:

So you know who these guys are and what they do. Now it’s time to translate that to what you’ll see this weekend while watching the games.

In general, you’ll rarely see a defense as straight forward as the one diagrammed above. It’s pretty vanilla. But you can easily tell what kind of play the defense is anticipating just by where all of the players are lined up, even if you’re unsure of who’s who in a complicated formation. It couldn’t be easier.

Are the majority of players bunched up toward the front of the line? The defense is expecting a run. Remember when we talked about 8 in the box? Anytime the defense brings more than the standard 7 players into the box (the part of the field where the linemen and linebackers play), you can be fairly sure that the defense is either planning on blitzing the quarterback or stopping a running play. (And remember – the cornerbacks don’t count. They’re outside of the box, on the edges of the formation.)

Are the majority of players spaced out in the backfield? The defense is expecting a pass. The defense usually employs specific packages for this type of situation. In a nickel package, a linebacker is taken off the field and an extra defensive back is put in (because there can only be 11 players on the field for each unit at all times, so they’d have to swap players in and out). In a dime package, two linebackers are taken out and two defensive backs are put in. The more defensive backs, the more chance the defense has of breaking up a pass or intercepting it.

And if you’re thinking either scheme leaves the defense vulnerable in one way or another – you’re right. If everyone is up front expecting a running play, the offense might be tempted to try a bomb downfield. If everyone is spread out in pass coverage, the offense might have an opportunity to run through an obvious hole up front. It’s always a gamble – but that’s what makes football so much fun to watch!

Does all of this make sense? Do you feel more comfortable watching a game now that you know what the offense and the defense do and how they’re trying to beat each other? If you have any questions, leave ’em in the comments and I’ll be happy to help!