Help a NFL n00b!

I\'ve been wanting to learn American football rules for some time. And I finally saw Any Given Sunday last night so that gave me the last push.

Do any of you football lovin\' yanks know of any good resources to learn about this stuff? I also downloaded EA\'s NFL game demo some time ago, but the game keeps stalling because I don\'t know wtf I\'m doing.

I\'m actually awake for some odd reason and I know my fair share.  My dad has been a ref for about 20 years now.  As for resources I don\'t know what you would use besides people on here.

Wow Boz, you\'re quick tonight / this morning.

Can you give me the basic outline of a game? Without all the details of course.

EDIT: If you don\'t care to do that because it takes too long, just tell me. I\'ll read some more on teh Intarweb instead.

The NFL Rulebook straight from the source

Ooh thanks. Looks like I\'ve got some reading to do.

Wow, it\'s weird seeing people in other countries taking an interest in American football.  Pretty soon you\'ll be eating red meat and bombing a mid-eastern country with money symbols in your eyes.

Well the team that scores the most points wins.

Well I have no idea how to go about this but I\'ll just run a game through my head and when I come upon something decent I\'ll name it, so sorry if I\'m here and there on it.

Basics
- The field is 100 yards long with 10 yards for each endzone
- There are 4 quarters in a game, each lasting 15 minutes long
- The first 2 quarters represent the first half, then a 30 minute break, then the last 2 quarters represent the 2nd half
- Each team has 11 players on the field
- Call of a coin toss gives you several choices.  If you win you may pick which side you defend first or whether you get ball first.  If you get ball first you kickoff to start the 2nd half.

Offense
- You get 4 chances to advance the ball 10 yards, known as downs
- If it comes to 4th down, you either punt the ball away to the other team or go for it.  If you don\'t succede you turn the ball over where you are at on the field.
- If you score a touchdown you get 6 points.  Then you get to either kick the extra point for 1 point or go for it where you get 2 if you get it into the endzone from 3 yards
- If within range of your kicker you can go for a fieldgoal on 4th down instead of punting the ball away.  You get the idea of the kicker trying to put it through the uprights.  If he does you get 3 points
- Incomplete pass stops the play
- Fumble, if a player drops the ball during the play the other team can pick it up and take possesion.
- Quarterback, guy who takes the snap and can either pass the ball, hand the ball off, or run with it himself
- Running back, starts in the backfield, behind the quarterback, runs, catches passes, blocks to make sure the quarterback isn\'t sacked
- Offensive Lineman, guys who make sure the quarterback doesn\'t get smashed
- Tight Ends, start on the line and either block for the quarterback or catch passes
- Recievers, go out for passes

Defense
- Whole goal is to stop the offense
- Stopping the offense forces a punt and if you catch a pass thrown by the quarterback its an interception and your ball, you may try to run it back for a touchdown
- Must tackle the guy with the ball to stop the play or force them out of bounds
Roles vary on defense so I\'ll just name positions and you\'ll get the idea
- Defensive Lineman
- Linebackers
- Defensive backs
- Safetys

Special Teams
- Players that go out on the field when you kick the ball to the other team, kick a fieldgoal, or are returning a kick
- Team kicksoff at the beginning of one of the halfs and after every touchdown made by them
- Team kicks off from the 35 yard line of the side they are defending
- A punt is when the team is forced to kick off the ball instead of taking a loss of downs, punter drop kicks the ball

I don\'t really know how to explain football much since everybody knows it here and I don\'t know your knowledge so sorry if what I named is elementary for you.  I didn\'t touch on penalties any since they take knowledge of everything else to be understood.  If you have individual questions you can just go ahead and ask them.

I could have posted that link but instead I felt like explaning things myself.  I hope I touched on some things not stated there.

it\'s a hard game to understand all the rules for without actually watching a game with someone who is very knowledgable about football rules and strategy.  I\'m in the process of explaining to my wife why the teams in the game are doing what they are doing in a certain situation or time in the game.

It can get pretty involved and there are so many rules that the referees could probably call a penalty on every single play of the game... but of course they don\'t.  Do you get NFL Europe games on your televison?

Thanks for the help guys (especially you Boz ).

Jbean, we can get NFL games here I think (as in, American matches). But I don\'t have the channel that usually transmits the games.

Its simple Sammy...

the game is all about a bunch of over paid men in crash helmets and tights …touching  each other ....bending over each other and saying “2 34…2 34….hut hut” before they make a move… so I don’t see what your attraction to the game is….

Hey hang on

At least they are not running around in little ghey white shorts......

I\'ve gained some respect for soccer since my gf plays... It\'s tough... But not even in the same league as football.

Originally posted by SwifDi
I\'ve gained some respect for soccer since my gf plays... It\'s tough... But not even in the same league as football.

Pics of GF playing soccer?

Erm... not yet... But eventually.

Keep things on track here, if you want to talk about swifdi\'s g/f start a new thread about it.