This Betting Academy article is dedicated to explaining the basics of American football to our readers. Regardless of whether you've just started following the sport, this summary will clear up many questions you may still have about what happens on your television on Sunday afternoons. Were you watching and suddenly hit that white? Take a look below, after all, no one is born knowing.
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The basics of the game
The teams' objective is to advance the oval-shaped ball to the end of the opponent's field and score points. The duration of the match is 60 minutes, divided into four periods of 15 minutes. The team with the most points at the end of that time is the winner. On the field of play there are 11 players for each side, just like in football, but the similarities end there. Unlike the round ball sport, where we have defensive and offensive players acting at the same time, in American football the team is divided into sub-teams to defend and attack.
Simply put, while one team only attacks, the other only defends. To help understand, let's imagine a football match between the red team and the blue team. When the blue team is in attack, it will be on the field with 11 players trying to cross the ball to the other side of the field, while the red team will be with the same number of athletes responsible for preventing this from happening. When the blue team finishes the offense, the players will leave the field and another 11 defensive athletes will enter the game, as well as the 11 offense players of the red team.
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But when does a team stop defending and start attacking?
First you need to understand the playing field. An American football field is 100 yards (109 meters). When a team is on offense, it will have 4 attempts (or downs) to advance ten yards. If he succeeds in advancing, he has four more attempts to walk ten more yards, and so he walks on the field of play.
If they spend all four attempts and cannot advance the ball the minimum distance, the team is obliged to deliver the ball to the opponent exactly where it was on the field, this is called turnover on downs. So that the opponents do not start campaigns close to their own end zone, in 99% of the cases the teams use the 4th attempt to return the ball to the opponent through the return kick, or punt, so the opponent starts his offensive campaign much more distant.
How does scoring work?
There are basically two ways to score points in American football. The first of them is the touchdown, that is, to continue walking on the lawn with the ball to the end of the opponent's field, better known as the end zone. On the playing field there are two 10-yard endzones in addition to the initial 100, usually painted in other colors for differentiation. If the team manages to enter with the ball in that space, it makes a touchdown, and consequently gets six points on the scoreboard.
Most of the time these 6 points become 7. That's because when a team makes the touchdown, it is entitled to a bonus point, or extra point, if it hits the oval ball inside those Y-shaped posts that are at the end of the field, through the kick. As the distance is relatively short, it is difficult to see errors.
It is also through the kick, the other form of scoring, called field goal. To explain it, let's go back to the match between the blue team and the red team. In the situation, the blue team is attacking, but it uses all three attempts and cannot advance 10 yards. Instead of returning the ball to the opponent, he can use the 4th attempt to risk a shot from where he is on the field. Usually the kick is only performed when the team is relatively close to the Y, at a maximum distance of 50 to 55 yards, counting the endzone. That's because the ball is returned to the opponent to start his attacking campaign in the same place where the kick was made - in case of error. So the greater the distance of the kick, the less the other team will have to travel to the other end zone. If the ball crosses the Y goalposts, the kicking team receives 3 points. Both the extra point and the field goal are performed by the kicker. He is the only player on the team who can use his feet to move the ball, his only function is to kick it when necessary.
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