Hey guys, Im an Australian who started watching NFL here in Australia because its on during the rugby league off season, but Im really into it now we get it on ESPN and foxsports and a free to air channel. Im a Chicago Bears fan just wanting to know if you guys mind helping me out with some of the rules of the game. I kinda get the you get four downs befor you have to punt correct? other then that Im kinda clueless and there are a shit load of flags on alot of plays. Thats the one thing I don't like about it as far as a contact sport goes its not that fast pace perhaps im just comparing it to X2 40min halfs of none stop Rugby League
Josh,
You get four down to make a first down. To get a first down you have to travel ten yards or more. You can do it over the course of multiple downs, or in one big play. You are not limited to ten yards for a first down. For example, if it is 2nd and 7 (2nd down – with seven yards left to make a first down), and you run a pass play that gets you 25 yards in the air…the ball is set at the point where the play ended, and you are given the first down. Typically, teams punt on fourth down, because they don’t want to turn the ball over on downs, if they don’t make the first down. For example, if you are on your own 40 yard line, and it’s 4th and 3 (4th down – 3 yards to go until you make a first down) you’d typically want to punt the ball away and force the other team to drive up the field from deep in their own territory, because if you go for it, you run the risk of turning the ball over to the other team (if you don’t make a first down), deep in your own territory. Football is largely a sport of field position. It’s explosive, as opposed to drawn out like soccer.
You see a lot of flags due to the physical nature of the sport. Let’s start with the most common penalty, holding.
Holding – this is the most common penalty, and it penalizes offensive and defensive players for impeding the progress of others in an unreasonable manor. Often times holding is called when offensive or defensive linemen hold or tackle an opposing player who is about to make a big play, or if they are impeding them from playing their position with an unreasonable amount of physical restriction. Ex: defensive player is about to break through the offensive line and get a sack on the QB; in order to protect his QB, the offensive linemen grabs, and holds, the defensive lineman in an unreasonable manor.
