120-688: Jeffrey Clay Mitchell (born January 29, 1974) is an American former professional football player who was a center in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons during the 1990s and 2000s. Mitchell played college football for the Florida Gators , where he was a member of a national championship team. Thereafter, he played professionally for the Baltimore Ravens and the Carolina Panthers of
240-717: A Super Bowl ring with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000, starting at center for the Ravens in their victory against the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV . Mitchell was the veteran anchor on the Carolina offensive line for five years, from 2001 to 2005 . He led the Panthers offensive line that allowed only twenty-six sacks in 2003, a team record for fewest sacks allowed in a season, and helped Panthers rush for
360-403: A halftime period, and the first and third quarters are followed by a short break. Before the game starts, the referee and each team's captain meet at midfield for a coin toss . The visiting team can call either "heads" or "tails"; the winner of the toss chooses whether to receive or kick off the ball or which goal they wish to defend. They can defer their choice until the second half. Unless
480-416: A punt is when the ball is released from the punter's hand and kicked downfield as close to the opponent's end zone as possible without entering it; the kicking team loses possession of the ball after the kick and the receiving team can attempt to advance the ball or call a fair catch. The other scrimmage kick is a field goal attempt. This must be attempted by place kick or (more rarely) drop kick , and if
600-401: A 10-yard-long chain between them, are used to measure for a first down. The chain crew stays on the sidelines during the game, but if requested by the officials they will briefly bring the chains on to the field to measure. A typical chain crew will have at least three people—two members of the chain crew will hold either of the two sticks, while a third will hold the down marker. The down marker,
720-535: A Gator, Mitchell was a starter for three seasons and the Gators won four consecutive Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles in 1993 through 1996 and the Bowl Alliance national championship in 1996. Mitchell earned academic honors for four consecutive seasons. As a senior team captain in 1996, he started eight games at center for the Gators' offense that averaged 503.9 yards per game. As a junior in 1995 , he
840-525: A PAT attempt or successful field goal, the scoring team must kick the ball off to the other team. A safety is scored when the ball carrier is tackled in the carrier's own end zone. Safeties are worth two points, which are awarded to the defense. In addition, the team that conceded the safety must kick the ball to the scoring team via a free kick . Football games are played on a rectangular field that measures 120 yards (110 m) long and 53 + 1 ⁄ 3 yards (48.8 m) wide. Lines marked along
960-453: A field goal instead. A group of officials, the chain crew, keeps track of both the downs and the distance measurements. On television, a yellow line is electronically superimposed on the field to show the first down line to the viewing audience. There are two categories of kicks in football: scrimmage kicks, which can be executed by the offensive team on any down from behind or on the line of scrimmage, and free kicks. The free kicks are
1080-471: A full-time basis. American football American football , referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football , is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense , the team with possession of the oval-shaped football , attempts to advance down the field by running with
1200-457: A group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they could now hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, in a game between Yale and Princeton, both teams used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records. Each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 0–0 tie. This "block game" proved extremely unpopular with both teams' spectators and fans. A rule change
1320-533: A large stick with a dial on it, is flipped after each play to indicate the current down and is typically moved to the approximate spot of the ball. The chain crew system has been used for over 100 years and is considered an accurate measure of distance, rarely subject to criticism from either side. Football is a full-contact sport, and injuries are relatively common. Most injuries occur during training sessions, particularly ones that involve contact between players. To try to prevent injuries, players are required to wear
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#17328014330611440-506: A liking to McGill's rugby-style rules and adopted them. In turn, they were used when Harvard and Yale University played their first intercollegiate sports game in 1875, after which the rugby-style Canadian game was adopted by Yale players and spectators from Yale and Princeton University . This version of the game was subsequently played with several other U.S. colleges over the next several years. American football teams and organizations subsequently adopted new rules which distinguished
1560-408: A long circumference of 28 to 28 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (71 to 72 cm), and a short circumference of 21 to 21 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (53 to 54 cm). In college and high school play the ball has a long axis of 10 + 7 ⁄ 8 to 11 + 7 ⁄ 16 inches (27.6 to 29.1 cm), a long circumference of 27 + 3 ⁄ 4 to 28 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (70 to 72 cm), and
1680-420: A minimum of 10 feet (3.0 m) on high school fields. Goal posts are padded at the base, and orange ribbons are normally placed at the tip of each upright as indicators of wind strength and direction. The football itself is a prolate spheroid leather ball, similar to the balls used in rugby or Australian rules football . To contain the compressed air within it, a pig's bladder was commonly used before
1800-510: A modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association , although Yale did not join until 1879. Yale player Walter Camp , now regarded as the "Father of American Football", secured rule changes in 1880 that reduced the size of each team from 15 to 11 players and instituted the snap to replace the chaotic and inconsistent scrum . While the game between Rutgers and Princeton
1920-477: A pass hits the ground without a player having caught it. A forward pass can be legally attempted only if the passer is behind the line of scrimmage; only one forward pass can be attempted per down. As in rugby, players can also pass the ball backwards at any point during a play. In the NFL, a down also ends immediately if the runner's helmet comes off. The offense is given a series of four plays, known as downs . If
2040-409: A play in a huddle and freely substitute players to set into a formation , in which the offense must remain perfectly still for at least one second (the formation requirement does not apply to Canadian football). At least half of the players (seven in standard American and Canadian football, four in standard indoor ball) on the offense must line up on the line of scrimmage in this formation, including
2160-583: A player being paid to participate in a game of American football , although many athletic clubs in the 1880s offered indirect benefits, such as helping players attain employment, giving out trophies or watches that players could pawn for money, or paying double in expense money. Despite these extra benefits, the game had a strict sense of amateurism at the time, and direct payment to players was frowned upon, if not prohibited outright. Over time, professional play became increasingly common, and with it came rising salaries and unpredictable player movement, as well as
2280-427: A quarter ends, play continues until the down is completed. If certain fouls are committed during play while time has expired, the quarter may be extended through an untimed down . Games last longer than their defined length due to play stoppages—the average NFL game lasts slightly over three hours. Time in a football game is measured by the game clock. An operator is responsible for starting, stopping and operating
2400-511: A round ball. An 1875 Harvard–Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two Princeton athletes who were impressed by it. They introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to "selling refrigerators to Eskimos ". Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and Columbia then agreed to intercollegiate play using a form of rugby union rules with
2520-436: A secondary signal. Women can serve as officials; Sarah Thomas became the NFL's first female official in 2015. The seven officials (of a standard seven-man crew; lower levels of play up to the college level use fewer officials) on the field are each tasked with a different set of responsibilities: Another set of officials, the chain crew , are responsible for moving the chains. The chains, consisting of two large sticks with
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#17328014330612640-403: A separate sport from rugby, and the resulting five-yard lines added to the field to measure distances made it resemble a gridiron in appearance. Other major rule changes included a reduction of the field size to 110 by 53 + 1 ⁄ 3 yards (100.6 m × 48.8 m) and the adoption of a scoring system that awarded four points for a touchdown, two for a safety and a goal following
2760-746: A set of equipment. At a minimum players must wear a football helmet and a set of shoulder pads , but individual leagues may require additional padding such as thigh pads and guards, knee pads, chest protectors, and mouthguards . Most injuries occur in the lower extremities, particularly in the knee, but a significant number also affect the upper extremities. The most common types of injuries are strains , sprains , bruises , fractures , dislocations , and concussions . Gridiron football Gridiron football ( / ˈ ɡ r ɪ d aɪ . ər n / GRID -eye-ərn ), also known as North American football, or in North America as simply football ,
2880-410: A short circumference of 20 + 3 ⁄ 4 to 21 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (53 to 54 cm). Football games last for a total of 60 minutes in professional and college play and are divided into two halves of 30 minutes and four quarters of 15 minutes. High school football games are 48 minutes in length with two halves of 24 minutes and four quarters of 12 minutes. The two halves are separated by
3000-621: A team-record 2,091 yards, including a team-individual mark of 1,444 yards by Stephen Davis . Mitchell joined Jordan Gross as the only Panthers offensive linemen to start every game in 2004. Mitchell was a starter in 118 of 119 regular season NFL contests in which he appeared during his eight-year professional football career. During the off-seasons, Mitchell served as the Vice President of Client Relations for Threadfin Business Solutions. He currently holds that position on
3120-407: A ten-yard penalty against offensive players and a five-yard penalty against defensive ones), and pass interference (when either a receiver or the defending player pushes or blocks the other to prevent them from catching the pass). A team on offense cannot score points as the direct result of a penalty; a defensive foul committed in the team's own end zone, if the penalty is assessed from the spot of
3240-416: A touchdown , and five for a goal from the field . Additionally, tackling below the waist was legalized, and a static line of scrimmage was instituted. Despite these new rules, football remained a violent sport. Dangerous mass-formations like the flying wedge resulted in serious injuries and deaths. A 1905 peak of 19 fatalities nationwide resulted in a threat by President Theodore Roosevelt to abolish
3360-540: Is 60 timed minutes in length, split into four 15-minute quarters. (High school football uses 12-minute quarters, and the general rule is that the younger the players, the shorter the quarters typically are.) Because of the halftime, quarter breaks, time-outs, the minute warnings ( two minutes before the end of a half in the NFL , three minutes in Canadian football ), and frequent stoppages of the game clock (the clock stops, for example, after every incomplete pass and any time
3480-489: Is a family of football team sports primarily played in the United States and Canada. American football , which uses 11 players, is the form played in the United States and the best known form of gridiron football worldwide, while Canadian football , which uses 12 players, predominates in Canada. Other derivative varieties include arena football , flag football and amateur games such as touch and street football . Football
3600-460: Is a sport in which two competing teams vie for control of a ball, which can be kicked through a set of goalposts or run into the opponent's goal area to score points. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6, 1869 , between Rutgers and Princeton , two college teams. They consisted of 25 players per team and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with
3720-501: Is an IFAF member. The sport is typically known as simply "football" in the countries where it originated, regardless of the specific variety. In Europe the sport is commonly known as "American football". Various sources use the term "North American football" when discussing the American and Canadian games together, but this term is quite rare. The two sports are also sometimes known as "gridiron football". The name originated with
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3840-427: Is awarded one single point . If the team in possession of the ball, at any time, advances (either by carrying or catching) the ball into the opponent's end zone, it is a touchdown , and the team scores six points and a free play known as a try . In a try, a team attempts to score one or two points (rules vary by each league, but under standard rules, a field goal on a try is worth one point while another touchdown
3960-425: Is called on the offense. There are two main ways the offense can advance the ball: running and passing . In a typical play, the center passes the ball backwards and between their legs to the quarterback in a process known as the snap . The quarterback then either hands the ball off to a running back, throws the ball, or runs with it. The play ends when the player with the ball is tackled or goes out-of-bounds or
4080-437: Is caught or recovered behind the line of scrimmage. If it is touched or recovered by the kicking team beyond this line, it becomes dead at the spot where it was touched. The kicking team is prohibited from interfering with the receiver's opportunity to catch the ball. The receiving team has the option of signaling for a fair catch , which prohibits the defense from blocking into or tackling the receiver. The play ends as soon as
4200-516: Is commonly considered the first American football game, several years prior in 1862, the Oneida Football Club formed as the oldest known football club in the United States. The team consisted of graduates of Boston's elite preparatory schools and played from 1862 to 1865. The introduction of the snap resulted in an unexpected consequence. Before the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position. However,
4320-403: Is known as a two-point conversion . In general, the extra point is almost always successful, while the two-point conversion is a much riskier play with a higher probability of failure; accordingly, extra point attempts are far more common than two-point conversion attempts. A field goal (FG), worth three points, is scored when the ball is place kicked or drop kicked through the uprights and over
4440-474: Is played at professional , collegiate , high school , semi-professional, and amateur levels. These sports originated in the 19th century out of older games related to modern rugby football , more specifically rugby union football. Early on, American and Canadian football developed alongside (but independently from) each other; the root of the game known as "football" today originates with an 1874 game between Harvard and McGill Universities , following which
4560-407: Is responsible for all kicking plays. The special teams unit of the team in control of the ball tries to execute field goal (FG) attempts, punts , and kickoffs , while the opposing team's unit will aim to block or return them. Three positions are specific to the field goal and PAT (point-after-touchdown) unit: the placekicker (K or PK), holder (H), and long snapper (LS). The long snapper's job
4680-421: Is to block members of the defensive line from tackling the ball carrier on running plays or sacking the quarterback on passing plays. The leader of the offensive line is the center, who is responsible for snapping the ball to the quarterback, blocking, and for making sure that the other linemen do their jobs during the play. On either side of the center are the guards (G), while tackles (T) line up outside
4800-437: Is to snap the football to the holder, who will catch and position it for the placekicker. There is not usually a holder on kickoffs, because the ball is kicked off a tee; however, a holder may be used in certain situations, such as if wind is preventing the ball from remaining upright on the tee. The player on the receiving team who catches the ball is known as the kickoff returner (KR). The positions specific to punt plays are
4920-827: Is usually called " soccer " in Australian English . The governing body for American football in Australia is Gridiron Australia . Similarly, in the UK American football is known as American football, as "football" is used to refer to soccer . The sport developed from informal games played in North America during the 19th century. Early games had a variety of local rules and were generally similar to modern rugby union and soccer . The earliest recorded instance of gridiron football occurred at University of Toronto's University College in November 1861. Later in
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5040-404: Is worth two). At the college and professional levels, the defense can also score on a try, but only on the same scale (thus a botched try the defense returns for a touchdown scores only two points and not six). Kickoffs occur after every touchdown and field goal. If a team is in its own end zone and commits a foul, is tackled with the ball, or bats, fumbles, kicks or throws the ball backward out of
5160-776: The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in 1997. The BCS arrangement proved to be controversial , and was replaced in 2014 by the College Football Playoff (CFP). A football game is played between two teams of 11 players each. Playing with more on the field is punishable by a penalty. Teams may substitute any number of their players between downs; this "platoon" system replaced the original system, which featured limited substitution rules, and has resulted in teams utilizing specialized offensive, defensive and special teams units. The number of players allowed on an active roster varies by league;
5280-479: The Super Bowl , ranks among the most-watched club sporting events globally. In 2022, the league had an annual revenue of around $ 18.6 billion, making it the most valuable sports league in the world. Other professional and amateur leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball ; the sport maintains a growing following in
5400-412: The center (C), are allowed to line up in or cross the neutral zone until the ball is snapped. Interior offensive linemen are not allowed to move until the snap of the ball. The main backfield positions are the quarterback (QB), halfback/tailback (HB/TB), and fullback (FB). The quarterback is the leader of the offense. Either the quarterback or a coach calls the plays. Quarterbacks typically inform
5520-409: The commissioner . NCAA and NFHS teams are "strongly advised" to number their offensive players according to a league-suggested numbering scheme. Although the sport is played almost exclusively by men, women are eligible to play in high school, college, and professional football. No woman has ever played in the NFL, but women have played in high school and college football games. In 2018, 1,100 of
5640-411: The kickoff , which starts the first and third quarters and overtime and follows a try attempt or a successful field goal; the safety kick follows a safety. On a kickoff, the ball is placed at the 35-yard line of the kicking team in professional and college play and at the 40-yard line in high school play. The ball may be drop kicked or place kicked. If a place kick is chosen, the ball can be placed on
5760-407: The neutral zone was created along the width of the football before the snap. Scoring was also adjusted: points awarded for field goals were reduced to three in 1909 and points for touchdowns were raised to six in 1912. Also in 1912, the field was shortened to 100 yards (91 m) long, two 10-yard-long (9.1 m) end zones were created, and teams were given four downs instead of three to advance
5880-407: The punter (P), long snapper, upback , and gunner . The long snapper snaps the football directly to the punter, who then drops and kicks it before it hits the ground. Gunners line up split outside the line and race down the field, aiming to tackle the punt returner (PR)—the player who catches the punt. Upbacks line up a short distance behind the line of scrimmage, providing additional protection to
6000-406: The western provinces , demanded changes to the game based on the innovations in American football. Over the years, the sport adopted more Americanized rules, though it retained some of its historical features, including a 110-yard (100 m) field, 12-player teams, and three downs instead of four. Around the same time Camp devised the rules for American football, the Canadian game would develop in
6120-611: The 1860s, teams from universities were playing each other, leading to more standardized rules and the creation of college football . While several American schools adopted rules based on the soccer rules of the English Football Association , Harvard University held to its traditional "carrying game". Meanwhile, McGill University in Montreal used rules based on rugby union . In 1874, Harvard and McGill organized two games using each other's rules. Harvard took
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#17328014330616240-413: The 1966 season. Once the merger was completed, it was no longer a championship game between two leagues and reverted to the NFL championship game, which came to be known as the Super Bowl . College football maintained a tradition of postseason bowl games . Each bowl game was associated with a particular conference and earning a spot in a bowl game was the reward for winning a conference. This arrangement
6360-561: The 1970s ), and a distinctive brown leather ball in the shape of a prolate spheroid with pointed ends. The international governing body for the sport is the International Federation of American Football (IFAF); although the organization plays all of its international competitions under American rules, it uses a definition of the game that is broad enough that it includes Canadian football under its umbrella, and Football Canada (the governing body for Canadian football)
6480-567: The 225,000 players in Pop Warner Little Scholars youth football were girls, and around 11% of the 5.5 million Americans who report playing tackle football are female according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. The role of the offensive unit is to advance the football down the field with the ultimate goal of scoring a touchdown . The offensive team must line up in a legal formation before they can snap
6600-461: The American school adopted the Canadian school's more rugby-like rules. Over time, Canadian teams adopted features of the American variant of the game and vice versa. Both varieties are distinguished from other football sports by their use of hard plastic helmets and shoulder pads , the forward pass , the system of downs , a number of unique rules and positions , measurement in customary units of yards (even in Canada, which largely metricated in
6720-516: The NFL had established itself as America's premier professional football league. The dominant form of football at the time was played at the collegiate level . The upstart NFL received a boost to its legitimacy in 1925, however, when an NFL team, the Pottsville Maroons , defeated a team of Notre Dame all-stars in an exhibition game . A greater emphasis on the passing game helped professional football to distinguish itself further from
6840-570: The NFL has a 53-man roster, while NCAA Division I allows teams to have 63 scholarship players in the FCS and 85 scholarship players in the FBS, respectively. Individual players in a football game must be designated with a uniform number between 1 and 99, though some teams may "retire" certain numbers , making them unavailable to players. NFL teams are required to number their players by a league-approved numbering system, and any exceptions must be approved by
6960-582: The NFL. Mitchell was born in Dallas, Texas in 1974. He attended Countryside High School in Clearwater, Florida , and played defensive tackle for the Countryside Cougars high school football team. Mitchell set a school career record with seventeen quarterback sacks and earned an honorable mention from USA Today , and garnered All-State Class 5A first-team honors. Mitchell was named
7080-460: The advent of artificial rubber inside the leather outer shell to sustain crushing forces . At all levels of play, the football is inflated to 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 to 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 psi (86 to 93 kPa), or just under one atmosphere, and weighs 14 to 15 ounces (400 to 430 g); beyond that, the exact dimensions vary slightly. In professional play the ball has a long axis of 11 to 11 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (28 to 29 cm),
7200-439: The ball or throwing it , while the defense , the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance the ball at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive . Points are scored primarily by advancing
7320-572: The ball 10 yards (9.1 m). The roughing the passer penalty was implemented in 1914, and eligible players were first allowed to catch the ball anywhere on the field in 1918. On November 12, 1892, Pudge Heffelfinger was paid $ 500 (equivalent to $ 16,956 in 2023) to play a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club . This is the first recorded instance of
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#17328014330617440-415: The ball carrier at any time the ball is in play, provided they do not grab the face mask of the helmet or make helmet-to-helmet contact when doing so. At any time, the player with the ball can attempt a backward, or lateral, pass to any other player in order to keep the ball in play; this is generally rare. Any player on defense can, at any time, attempt to intercept a forward pass in flight, at which point
7560-405: The ball carrier is tackled, or, if the ball is kicked out of bounds , let the ball go dead on its own (the last case usually happens when the ball is kicked all the way into or through the opponent's end zone, resulting in a touchback and the ball being brought several yards out of the end zone to begin play). A kicking team can, under special circumstances, attempt to recover its own kick , but
7680-440: The ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal . The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby . The first American football game was played on November 6, 1869 , between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton , using rules based on
7800-435: The ball is caught, and the ball may not be advanced. Officials are responsible for enforcing game rules and monitoring the clock. All officials carry a whistle and wear black-and-white striped shirts and black hats except for the referee, whose hat is white. Each carries a weighted yellow flag that is thrown to the ground to signal that a foul has been called. An official who spots multiple fouls will throw their hat as
7920-430: The ball. An offensive formation is considered illegal if there are more than four players in the backfield or fewer than five players numbered 50–79 on the offensive line. Players can line up temporarily in a position whose eligibility is different from what their number permits as long as they report the change immediately to the referee, who then informs the defensive team of the change. Neither team's players, except
8040-527: The college game during the late 1930s. Football, in general, became increasingly popular following the 1958 NFL Championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants , still referred to as the "Greatest Game Ever Played". The game, a 23–17 overtime victory by the Colts, was seen by millions of television viewers and had a major influence on the popularity of the sport. This, along with
8160-552: The conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. After playing McGill University using both American (known as "the Boston game ") for the first game and Canadian (rugby) rules for the second one, the Harvard players preferred the Canadian style of having only 11 men on the field, running the ball without having to be chased by an opponent, the forward pass, tackling, and using an oblong instead of
8280-551: The conservative NFL to expand to Dallas and Minnesota in an attempt to destroy the new league. Meanwhile, the AFL introduced many new features to professional football in the United States: official time was kept on a scoreboard clock rather than on a watch in the referee's pocket, as the NFL did; optional two-point conversions by pass or run after touchdowns; names on the jerseys of players; and several others, including expansion of
8400-725: The county player of the year by the Tampa Tribune and All-Suncoast Defensive Player of the Year by the St. Petersburg Times . Mitchell accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Steve Spurrier 's Florida Gators football team from 1992 to 1996 . As a true freshman in 1992, the Gators coaching staff decided to redshirt him. During his four seasons as
8520-413: The crossbars of the defense's goalposts. In practice, almost all field goal attempts are done via place kick. While drop kicks were common in the early days of the sport, the shape of modern footballs makes it difficult to reliably drop kick the ball. The last successful scoring play by drop kick in the NFL was accomplished in 2006; prior to that, the last successful drop kick had been made in 1941. After
8640-399: The defense is to prevent the offense from scoring by tackling the ball carrier or by forcing turnovers . Turnovers include interceptions (a defender catching a forward pass intended for the offense) and forced fumbles (taking possession of the ball from the ball-carrier). The defensive line (DL) consists of defensive ends (DE) and defensive tackles (DT). Defensive ends line up on
8760-430: The defensive backfield. They are divided into two types: middle linebackers (MLB) and outside linebackers (OLB). Linebackers tend to serve as the defensive leaders and call the defensive plays, given their vantage point of the offensive backfield. Their roles include defending the run, pressuring the quarterback, and tackling backs, wide receivers, and tight ends in the passing game. The defensive backfield , often called
8880-399: The end of a quarter.) After the halftime break, a new kickoff occurs. Whichever team has more points at the end of the game is declared the winner; in the event of a tie, each league has its own rules for overtime to break the tie. Because of the nature of the game, pure sudden-death overtimes have been abolished at all levels of the game as of 2012. At all adult levels of the game, a game
9000-472: The ends and sides of the field are known as the end lines and sidelines . Goal lines are marked 10 yards (9.1 m) inward from each end line. Weighted pylons are placed the sidelines on the inside corner of the intersections with the goal lines and end lines. White markings on the field identify the distance from the end zone. Inbound lines, or hash marks , are short parallel lines that mark off 1-yard (0.91 m) increments. Yard lines , which can run
9120-404: The ends of the line, while defensive tackles line up inside, between the defensive ends. The primary responsibilities of defensive ends and defensive tackles are to stop running plays on the outside and inside, respectively, to pressure the quarterback on passing plays, and to occupy the line so that the linebackers can break through. Linebackers line up behind the defensive line but in front of
9240-499: The feet, hands, head, or sides, with the objective being to advance it into the opponent's goal. Rutgers won the game 6–4. Collegiate play continued for several years with games played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia , Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19, 1873, to create a standard set of rules for use by all schools. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet (122 m × 76 m) were specified. Harvard abstained from
9360-433: The field of play through the same end zone, the defense scores a safety , worth two points. After a try, safety or field goal, the team that had possession of the ball goes back to the middle of the field and kicks the ball off to their opponent, and play continues as it did in the beginning of the game. Play continues until halftime . (Each team switches their side of the field with the other halfway through each half, at
9480-405: The foul, places the ball at the one-yard line. In contrast, a defensive team can score points as a direct result of a penalty; if the offense commits a foul under the same scenario, the defensive team receives two points and a free kick. In all other circumstances (except for the open-ended and extremely rare unfair act clause), a penalty cannot exceed more than half the distance to the end zone. If
9600-519: The game are professional and college football , with the other major levels being high-school and youth football. As of 2022 , nearly 1.04 million high-school athletes play the sport in the U.S., with another 81,000 college athletes in the NCAA and the NAIA . The National Football League (NFL) has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world . Its championship game,
9720-419: The game clock based on the direction of the appropriate official . A separate play clock is used to show the amount of time within which the offense must initiate a play. The play clock is set to 25 seconds after certain administrative stoppages in play and to 40 seconds when play is proceeding without such stoppages. If the offense fails to start a play before the play clock reads "00", a delay of game foul
9840-445: The game from rugby. Many of these early innovations were the work of Walter Camp , including the sport's line of scrimmage and the system of downs . Another consequential change was the adoption of the forward pass in 1906, which allowed the quarterback to throw the ball forward over the line of scrimmage to a receiver. Canadian football remained akin to rugby for decades, though a progressive faction of players, chiefly based in
9960-655: The game unless major changes were made. In response, 62 colleges and universities met in New York City to discuss rule changes on December 28, 1905. These proceedings resulted in the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, later renamed the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The legal forward pass was introduced in 1906, although its effect
10080-443: The ground or a tee; a holder may be used in either case. On a safety kick, the kicking team kicks the ball from their own 20-yard line. They can punt, drop kick or place kick the ball, but a tee may not be used in professional play. Any member of the receiving team may catch or advance the ball. The ball may be recovered by the kicking team once it has gone at least ten yards and has touched the ground or has been touched by any member of
10200-434: The guards. The principal receivers are the wide receivers (WR) and the tight ends (TE). Wide receivers line up on or near the line of scrimmage, split outside the line. The main goal of the wide receiver is to catch passes thrown by the quarterback, but they may also function as decoys or as blockers during running plays. Tight ends line up outside the tackles and function both as receivers and as blockers. The role of
10320-555: The illegal payment of college players who were still in school. The National Football League (NFL), a group of professional teams that was originally established in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, aimed to solve these problems. This new league's stated goals included an end to bidding wars over players, prevention of the use of college players, and abolition of the practice of paying players to leave another team. By 1922,
10440-451: The innovations introduced by the new American Football League (AFL) in the early 1960s, helped football to become the most popular sport in the United States by the mid-1960s. The rival AFL arose in 1960 and challenged the NFL's dominance. The AFL began in relative obscurity but eventually thrived, with an initial television contract with the ABC television network. The AFL's existence forced
10560-405: The kicked ball passes through the goal set at the edge of the opponent's end zone, the team scores three points. (Four-point field goals have been offered in a few variations of the game under special rules, but the NFL, college and high school football only offer three-point field goals.) In Canada, any kick that goes into the end zone and is not returned, whether it be a punt or a missed field goal,
10680-447: The line), who must catch the ball before it touches the ground. The play stops when a player with the ball touches any part of their body other than hand or foot to the ground, runs out of the boundaries of the field, is obstructed from making further forward progress, or a forward pass hits the ground without being caught (in the last case, the ball returns to the spot it was snapped). To stop play, players on defense are allowed to tackle
10800-429: The offense advances ten or more yards in the four downs, they are awarded a new set of four downs. If they fail to advance ten yards, possession of the football is turned over to the defense. In most situations, if the offense reaches their fourth down they will punt the ball to the other team, which forces them to begin their drive from farther down the field; if they are in field goal range , they might attempt to score
10920-425: The opponent. Whether this yardage is measured from the original spot of the ball before the play, the spot of the illegal action, or the end of the play depends on the individual foul. The most common penalties include false start (when an offensive player jumps to begin the play before the ball is snapped, a five-yard penalty), holding (the grabbing of a player other than the ball carrier to obstruct their progress;
11040-471: The penalty would be less advantageous than the result of the actual play, then the team not committing the penalty can decline it. In order to keep play moving, the offense must make a certain amount of progress (10 yards in most leagues) within a certain number of plays (3 in Canada, 4 in the United States), called downs . If the offense does indeed make this progress, a first down is achieved, and
11160-445: The plane of the two end lines. The crossbar of these posts is 10 feet (3.0 m) above the ground, with vertical uprights at the end of the crossbar 18 feet 6 inches (5.64 m) apart for professional and collegiate play, and 23 feet 4 inches (7.11 m) apart for high school play. The uprights extend vertically 35 feet (11 m) on professional fields, a minimum of 10 yards (9.1 m) on college fields, and
11280-451: The point(s)-after-touchdown (PAT) or conversion, which is a single scoring opportunity. This is generally attempted from the two- or three-yard line, depending on the level of play. If the PAT is scored by a place kick or drop kick through the goal posts, it is worth one point, typically called the extra point. If the PAT is scored by what would normally be a touchdown, it is worth two points; this
11400-472: The previous play, and a play clock is kept to enforce the measure.) Once the ball is snapped, the play has commenced, and the offense's goal is to continue advancing the ball toward their opponent's end zone . This can be done either by running with the ball or by a rule unique to football known as the forward pass . In a forward pass, a player from behind the line of scrimmage throws the ball to an eligible receiver (another back or one player on each end of
11520-422: The punter. In football, the winner is the team that has scored more points at the end of the game. There are multiple ways to score in a football game. The touchdown (TD), worth six points, is the most valuable scoring play in American football. A touchdown is scored when a live ball is advanced into, caught, or recovered in the opposing team's end zone. The scoring team then attempts a try, more commonly known as
11640-401: The receiving team. The three types of scrimmage kicks are place kicks, drop kicks, and punts. Only place kicks and drop kicks can score points. The place kick is the standard method used to score points, because the pointy shape of the football makes it difficult to reliably drop kick. Once the ball has been kicked from a scrimmage kick, it can be advanced by the kicking team only if it
11760-411: The rest of North America, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. In the United States, American football is referred to as "football". The term "football" was officially established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season , when the sport first shifted from soccer-style rules to rugby-style rules. Although it could easily have been called "rugby" at this point, Harvard, one of the primary proponents of
11880-631: The rest of the offense of the play in the huddle before the team lines up. The quarterback lines up behind the center to take the snap and then hands the ball off, throws it, or runs with it. The primary role of the halfback, also known as the running back or tailback, is to carry the ball on running plays. Halfbacks may also serve as receivers. Fullbacks tend to be larger than halfbacks and function primarily as blockers, but they are sometimes used as runners in short-yardage or goal-line situations. They are seldom used as receivers. The offensive line (OL) consists of several players whose primary function
12000-507: The role of minority players, actively recruited by the league in contrast to the NFL. The AFL also signed several star college players who had also been drafted by NFL teams. Competition for players heated up in 1965, when the AFL New York Jets signed rookie Joe Namath to a then-record $ 437,000 contract (equivalent to $ 4.23 million in 2023). A five-year, $ 40 million NBC television contract followed, which helped to sustain
12120-530: The rugby-style game, compromised and did not request the name of the sport be changed to "rugby". The terms " gridiron " or "American football" are favored in English-speaking countries where other types of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia. American football evolved from the sports of rugby and soccer . Rugby, like American football,
12240-451: The rules of soccer at the time. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp , the "Father of American Football", established the snap , the line of scrimmage , eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass , created the neutral zone , and specified the size and shape of the football. The sport is closely related to Canadian football , which evolved in parallel with and at
12360-407: The rules of the game make it very difficult to do so reliably, and so this tactic is usually only used as a surprise or desperation maneuver. At this point, play from scrimmage begins. The team in possession of the ball is on offense and the opponent is on defense . The offense is given a set amount of time (up to forty seconds, depending on the governing body), during which the teams can set up
12480-435: The same time as the American game, although its rules were developed independently from those of Camp. Most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are also present in Canadian football. The two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football . American football is the most popular sport in the United States in terms of broadcast viewership audience. The most popular forms of
12600-473: The same way (but separately) from the American game; the Burnside rules were instrumental in establishing many of the rules for the modern game. The best NFL players are among the highest paid athletes in the world. This is a minimal description of the game in general, with elements common to all or almost all variants of the game. For more specific rules, see each code's individual articles. Prior to
12720-503: The secondary, consists of cornerbacks (CB) and safeties (S). Safeties are themselves divided into free safeties (FS) and strong safeties (SS). Cornerbacks line up outside the defensive formation, typically opposite a receiver to be able to cover them. Safeties line up between the cornerbacks but farther back in the secondary. Safeties tend to be viewed as "the last line of defense" and are responsible for stopping deep passing plays as well as breakout running plays. The special teams unit
12840-414: The snapper, who handles the ball before play commences; the rest can (and almost always do) line up behind the line. Neither the offense nor the defense can cross the line of scrimmage before the play commences. Once the formation is set, the snapper snaps the ball to one of the players behind him. (A snapper must snap the ball within 20 to 25 seconds of the official setting the ball back into position after
12960-410: The sport's once-characteristic playing field : the original American football and Canadian football fields were marked by a series of parallel lines along both the width and length of the field, which produced a grid pattern resembling a cross-hatched cooking gridiron . The ball would be snapped in the grid in which it was downed on the previous play. By 1920, the grid system was abandoned in favor of
13080-449: The sportswriters of The Gainesville Sun rated him as the No. 41 all-time greatest Gator from the first century of Florida football. The Baltimore Ravens selected Mitchell in the fifth round (134th pick overall) in the 1997 NFL draft . He played for the Ravens for four seasons from 1997 to 2000 . He saw no action as a rookie in 1997, but became a regular starter in 1998. Mitchell earned
13200-405: The start of a game, a coin toss determines which team will decide if they want to kick off the ball to their opponent, or receive the ball from their opponent. Each team lines up on opposite halves of the field, with a minimum ten yards of space between them for the kickoff. The team receiving the ball can make a fair catch (which stops the play immediately), catch the ball and run it back until
13320-446: The system of yard lines and hash marks used today. The International Federation of American Football (IFAF), uses "American football" inclusive of Canadian football and other varieties. In Australia, American football is often referred to as "gridiron" or (in more formal contexts) "American football", as " football " usually refers to Australian rules football , rugby league or rugby union , similar to how association football
13440-418: The team gains possession; they can also gain possession by recovering a fumble or stripping the ball away from the ball carrier (a "forced fumble"). A typical play can last between five and twenty seconds. If any illegal action happens during the play, then the results of the previous play are erased and a penalty is assessed, forcing the offending team to surrender between five and fifteen yards of field to
13560-460: The team gets 3 or 4 more plays to achieve another 10 yards. If not, the offense loses possession to their opponent at the spot where the ball is. More commonly, however, the team on offense will, if they have a minimal chance of gaining a first down and have only one play left to do it ( fourth down in the U.S., third down in Canada), attempt a scrimmage kick . There are two types of scrimmage kick:
13680-411: The width of the field, are marked every 5 yards (4.6 m). A one-yard-wide line is placed at each end of the field; this line is marked at the center of the two-yard line in professional play and at the three-yard line in college play. Numerals that display the distance from the closest goal line in yards are placed on both sides of the field every ten yards. Goalposts are located at the center of
13800-408: The winning team decides to defer, the losing team chooses the option the winning team did not select—to receive, kick, or select a goal to defend to begin the second half. Most teams choose to receive or defer, because choosing to kick the ball to start the game allows the other team to choose which goal to defend. Teams switch goals following the first and third quarters. If a down is in progress when
13920-408: The young league. The bidding war for players ended in 1966 when NFL owners approached the AFL regarding a merger, and the two leagues agreed on one that took full effect in 1970. This agreement provided for a common draft that would take place each year, and it instituted an annual World Championship game to be played between the champions of each league. This championship game began play at the end of
14040-484: Was a first-team All-SEC selection by Football News . During his junior year, he started every game at center and was named the team's Comeback Player of the Year after missing spring practice following arthroscopic surgery . In the 1996 game against the Georgia Bulldogs , he suffered a broken right ankle, forcing him to undergo surgery and ending his season. In one of a series of articles published in 2006,
14160-418: Was initially minimal due to the restrictions placed on its use. The idea of a 40-yard-wider field was opposed by Harvard due to the size of the new Harvard Stadium . Other rule changes introduced that year included the reduction of playing time from 70 to 60 minutes and an increase of the distance required for a first down from 5 to 10 yards (4.6 to 9.1 m). To reduce infighting and dirty play between teams,
14280-440: Was necessary to prevent this strategy from taking hold, and a reversion to the scrum was considered. However, Camp successfully proposed a rule in 1882 that limited each team to three downs , or tackles, to advance the ball 5 yards (4.6 m). Failure to advance the ball the required distance within those three downs would result in control of the ball being forfeited to the other team. This change effectively made American football
14400-494: Was profitable, but it tended to prevent the two top-ranked teams from meeting in a true national championship game, as they would normally be committed to the bowl games of their respective conferences. Several systems have been used since 1992 to determine a national champion of college football. The first was the Bowl Coalition , in place from 1992 to 1994. This was replaced in 1995 by the Bowl Alliance , which gave way to
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