American football

American Football

American football is a sport that originated in the United States of America. The object of the game is to score more points than the opposing team.

Methods of Scoring

There are many different ways in which a team may score in football. There are touchdowns, field goals, and safeties.

Touchdown

A touchdown is scored when a player has possession of the ball in the opposing team's endzone. When this is accomplished, the team that scored the touchdown is awarded 6 points.

• Offensive Touchdown

On offense this can be accompished when a player runs across the goalline with the ball in his hands or when a player throws the ball to another player in the endzone.

• Defensive Touchdown

On defense a player can score a touchdown by either catching a ball thrown by the offense and running it back into their endzone or by recovering a fumbled ball and running it into the opposing teams endzone.

Point After Try

After a team scores a touchdown, it has the option of kicking for a PAT. If the kicker gets the ball between the goalposts then the team is awarded 1 point.

2 Point Conversion

After a touchdown, the team that scored has the option of going for a 2 point conversion rather than a PAT. A 2 point conversion can be acheived in any of the same ways that an offensive touchdown is.

Field Goal

Field goals are accomplished on offense when a player kicks the ball over a set of goalposts. When this is accomplished, the team is awarded 3 points.

Safety

Safeties are accomplished on defense by tackling an offensive player in his own endzone. Safeties result in 2 points for the defense.

Positions

Standard American football is played with 11 players on offense and 11 players on defense.

Offense

• Quarterback
• Halfback
• Fullback
• Tackle
• Guard
• Center
• Tight End
• Wide Receiver

Defense

• Defensive Tackle
• Defensive End
• Outside Linebacker
• Inside Linebacker
• Cornerback
• Strong Safety
• Free Safety

Organizations

NCAA → NCAA Home
NFL → NFL Home