Downs are the number of chances the offense has to gain 10-yards total. The offense gets four tries, called downs, to advance the ball 10-yards down the field. If they do, they get a new set of downs. If they don’t, they have to punt, kick a field goal, or go for it and try to get the needed yardage on 4th down (if they don’t, the other team gets the ball right where they are, which is called “turning it over on downs”).
