Football is a Physical Sport!

One of my high school football coaches once said, "Football is not a contact sport. It's a collision sport!" What he failed to mention is that it is also about technique and proper training.

Many people believe the game of football is dangerous and it's nothing but people running into each other, but it's not like that at all. Yes, it's very physical game, but there are certain precautions and training that goes into learning how to play football. Most players in college and in the NFL have been playing since they were young, meaning that they have been learning how to play the game while learning the proper techniques so they can play the game as safe as possible. Something that I learned as a player is that if you are scared, timid or unsure of what to do, then most likely you are the most dangerous person on the field. The scared, timid or unsure player is the player that probably doesn't understand the proper techniques or what to do so when they engage with another player something bad can happen.

Basic Football Lingo

The game of Football can be difficult for many people to understand so I'm going to try to define or explain some basic terms that will help you know what is going on.

1) Flag or Penalty: When there is a penalty during a football game (either during a play or between plays) a referee will throw a yellow flag onto the field where it will be visible for everyone. Penalties will come if something illegal happens caused by players, coaches, or anyone on a teams sideline. Players can get a flag by doing something illegal during a play, like holding an opponent. Players can also get penalties along with coaches or anyone on a sideline with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which can occur in between plays. When there is a penalty there is of course a punishment, and in football most penalties result in a loss of yards. The most common amount of yards that are taken away after a penalty are 5, 10, or 15 yards. Depending on the severity of a penalty, players or coaches can be thrown out the game and may be suspended but this does not happen as often.

There are many penalties so I would suggest you look some up at your own pleasure. Some penalties happen more than others, so depending on how much you watch football you may need to know a lot, or only a few.  Here are a few penalties and their definitions, and also there is a link to NFL.com's rule book.

Teams and Positions

If you want to know about football then you need to know the three types of teams on the whole team, and also the positions on the team.

The Three Teams: 

The three different teams refers to what part of the game is happening. The three teams are Offense, Defense, and Special Teams. Offense whole goal is to score the ball, while the defense is trying to stop the Offense. That's the obvious part, but the special teams is a little bit harder to understand. There are four special team opportunities; the punt team, the punt return team, the kick off team, and kick return team. During special teams there is  no offense or defense on the field, but instead there are random players from the whole team who specialize in a area to help the special teams. On special teams, one team is trying to kick the ball to the other team (the other team is trying to catch the kick and score). The intention of the kickoff  or punt team is to keep the other team far away from their own end-zone, and the kick or punt return team tries to score or get the ball or get the ball as far as possible.