Football Rules and Regulations

Its called the snap. The center snaps the ball to the quarterback.

1970 , The NFL adopted it from the AFL ( American Football League) which started doing it in 1960.

There was an article in Sports Illustrated recently talking about practice squads. It said that the players on the squad attended games but did not dress for them and did not join the team on the sidelines. Look for the article in the SI.com archives.

Six. The only players on the offensive that cannot be eligible receivers are the linemen, the two tackles, two guards, and the center. However, should a pass be deflected by a defensive player the linemen then become eligible receivers and can catch the deflected ball without penalty.

One rule for football is that you are not allowed to hold anyone when you tackle them.

____

The basic rules:

Each team has to get the ball into the opposing end zone to score.

You have 4 tries to get 10 yards, and if you can't, then you turn the ball over to the other team. If you can, then you get another 4 tries to go 10 more yards, and so on until you get to the end zone to score.

There are two basic ways to score... run in or catch the ball in the end zone, or kick it through the goal posts in the end zone.

... obviously the game is much more complex, and there are additional ways to score and rules about how you can try to stop your opponents from getting 10 yards. For more information on football rules (American football), please see the related link below to the National Football League's Rulebook page, which has both basic and more complex information.

In the NFL, after a touchdown the ball is placed at the two yard line. In college ball, after a touchdown the ball is placed at the three yard line. That would make an extra point 19-20 yards in length.

An end zone is 10 yards long by 53 1/3 yards wide.

Yes, if the player is forced down, such as a push or a hit, that the ref deems to have caused the ball carrier to hit the ground, he is down. If he went down on his own in an attempt to make a catch or simply lost his footing, he is not down.

The distance between the goal posts is officially 7 yards; so that is 21 feet.

In metric that is 6.4 metres.

The width of the goal posts themselves is not official, so this might vary; but the rule states that at lest the bottom 2 metres of each post must be padded as protection. In some grounds, the base of the posts can be even 8 or 9 inches thick due to the padding.

The blue, yellow and red (on fourth down) lines are added by computers that scan for certain colours (i.e. the green of the gridiron), then replace the necessary pixels with the required colour. The final image is then televised. Note that these lines are not visible on the field itself to spectators, coaches, etc., and there are sometimes difficulties with adding the colours (for example, snow or mud discolour the ground so the computer does not recognise it as such, or a uniform is almost the same colour as the ground). In these situations a technician can normally fill the gaps manually.

When any part of the ball or any part of the ball carrier touches the out of bounds line, the ball is out of play.

In the NFL the four division winners are given seeds 1-4, according to their records. Seeds 5 and 6 are given to the two teams with the best records who are NOT division winners. For example, the Indianapolis Colts will probably finish at 12-4 this year, but earn only the 5th seed. The Denver Broncos and the AFC East winner will have a worse record but earn seeds 3 and 4.

There has to be 11 players on offense and Defence for every play.

There has to be at least 7 players on the line of scrimmage prior to the snap of the ball. This applies to both offense and defence

A green dot on a helment means that, that player has a radio receiver in their helmet. One offensive player and one defensive player from each team may have a green dot. It gives them one way communication with the coach before each play.

This is a bit of a tricky question. In high school and some situations in college, the play clock doesn't start until the referee gives the 'ready for play' whistle. From here, both levels have 25 seconds. For the 'running clock after a regular play situation', the NFL and NCAA have 40 second play clocks.

Whatever happened will just go on.( If a coach didn't think a touchdown was real he could challenge it. If the challenge is wrong then the team gets the points and they continue with the game. )

In addition, they will lose one of their remaining timeouts.

Only the calls that involve non-judgment can be challenged. Usually, the only non-call plays that can be challenged are the penalties that involve too many players on the field since it is able to be seen on the replay.

In the NFL, players are not allowed to run the center sneak. This is because the lineman can not be a ball carrier unless there is a fumble.

if the kicker kicks the ball out of bounds without the opposing team touching the ball, the ball is placed on the 40 yard line as a penalty to the kicking team.

You do not get extra points for blocking an extra point attempt. Points in football can only be scored by action in the end zone.

First, the above answer is incorrect, as points scored by kicking the ball through the uprights do not involve "action in the end zone."

Second, in college football you ARE awarded two points if the defense blocks an extra point and returns it all the way across the opposing goal line in one play. But in high school or the NFL, blocked PATs are immediately ruled dead.

Out? What else?

First down means you have four tries to get another first down or score points. Second down means you only have three tries to get another first down or score points before it's automatically turnover on downs.

Additionally a first down is accomplished by progressing 10 yards.

In American football there are forward passes and backward (or "lateral") passes.

A forward pass is a pass with its initial direction toward the opponent's end zone. A lateral is a pass with its initial direction parallel with or toward the passer's own end zone.

A forward pass is allowed only once per play, and the pass must originate behind the line of scrimmage (i.e., the spot where the ball was placed prior to the snap). If a forward pass hits the ground without being caught, the play is dead and the ball is returned to the previous spot.

Backward passes, however, can be made at any time from anywhere on the field. If a backward pass hits the ground, it is still a live ball and can be recovered by any player from either team. If a backward pass goes out of play, the ball will be spotted on the line where it went out of bounds.

Yes you can throw as many passes as you want as long as you or the ball has not crossed the line of scrimmage, but once you or the ball has crossed that line, you may not forward lateral the ball to another player, the pass must be a backward lateral.