Again, since you have offensive and defensive teams, that means throughout the game players retain their speed and exhaustion is not as much of a problem. So guys are hitting pretty much as hard in the 4th quarter as in the first. And remember, the NFL is about bursts of speed (anaerobic), not endurance (aerobic).
In Football EACH PLAY on offense or defense is planned out with diagrams in a playbook, studied in class/meeting and rehearsed multiple times in practice. A player has to know the play, his assignment, his reads, any adjustments and then finally use the proper technique for that assignment. The more prepared a player is mentally the faster he can play physically. Its a lot of processing information then reacting with the correct response
Football is about explosiveness. NFL players have plenty of stamina but that's not what the game is about. Stamina, endurance in football is about maintaining explosiveness in late game situations and resisting the effects of injury because everyone plays hurt after the first game.
Kicking the extra point is successful around 94% of the time, compared to around 50% for 2 point conversions. A kick has fewer elements to the play that can go wrong on the offensive side of the ball.
3:37 Think of Rugby players as 5k or 10k meter runners and AF players as sprinters. Even when a player is on the sideline, he still has to have the game in his head and be ready, at a moments notice, to be put into the game; at no time is there mind nor body rest and if there is, woe to him. Although AF is derived from Rugby, it developed into a completely different sport, comparisons will be tricky.
There'a a reason for teams having 40+ players, they get hurt all the time and substitutions are often. The "next man up" mentality is a real one in american football.
A big ideology and coaching point in football is to “do your job” because all 11 players have a different assignment on that play, and the idea is if everyone can do their job correctly the play will be successful
Unlike in Rugby, Football always has another player trying to manhandle you with everything they’ve got each and every play. At no point in America Football is a player untouched without contract. So while it’s 60 minutes, it’s 60 minutes of constant contact. In Rugby, only the player with the ball gets hit.
I've played Left and Right Guard on offense, and Nose Tackle on Defense in high school. In levels lower than university, this can be quite common. In university, it is a little more rare for people to play both ways, and on special teams, but it does happen. In pro football, I've not heard of it ever occurring in recent years. Also, keep in mind that NFL games are about 3 hours or 180 minutes, which is more than double the 80 minutes in rugby games. Another thing to keep in mind is that every down is basically a hard sprint. Doing this at an average height and weight of 6'2 (1.88 m) and 245 lbs. (111 kg) with 8-12 lbs. (3.6 - 5.4 kg) of gear, whilst running at an average speed of 1-1.5 m/s is quite tough.
Well here we go again with comparing football with rugby, rugby is a continuous moving game so someone playing it needs a tremendous amount of stamina, football is very start and stop, but enormous amounts of energy are needed when someone is moving. football is high-level skilled sport, you have to devise and execute plays, and you have to have very good throwing and catching skills which are far beyond any rugby player, just name me every rugby player that has made it to the NFL, yes I cant think of any either. Not to mention football payers have to play in any type of weather, rain snow, very hot to freezing temps.
The clock stops after quite a lot of plays, the games take longer. Every time there’s an incomplete pass, someone goes out of bounds, the clock temporarily stops after every first down to reset the yard markers, It stops when the teams switch offense/defense special teams units, when there’s a penalty, after any points are scored, etc. the average nfl game actually lasts around 3 hours. Also the nfl pioneered the instant replay for rulings and it’s generally a good thing for the sport, unlike var in the prem
60 minutes is strictly playing time, games are much longer. A normal game is around three hours, but the record is seven hours (double OT on the old rules, an extra 22:40 of play time). Yes, rugby and soccer both value endurance much more than NFL's pure sprinting speeds, which is why the most common running stats in the combine (recruiting) are 40 and 100 yard dashes. On the flip side of that, some of those dash speeds are literally Olympic class... Usain Bolt came by in 2019 and granted he wasn't trying his best, but managed to tie the league record 40 yard time of 4.22 seconds. Players are regularly... and I do mean regularly... clocked at over 20mph, with Raheem Mostert running 23.09mph in one play last (2020) season.
The main reason there are separate Offensive & Defensive units, is because the techniques, designed plays, responsibilities & skill sets are completely different from O to D positions. I do have to say, having watched & played both sports, there is WAY more full speed sprinting during a Football game compared to Rugby Also, A Football Game isn’t just 60 mins, the game doesn’t have a Running Clock, like Rugby or Football, the Game Clock is stopped when plays go out of bounds, a pass is dropped, or a change of possession. Clock Management is huge tactical part of Game Strategy. The games are usually 2 to 2/12 hours long. Also there is a lot going on between plays, it may look like they’re just standing around, but players are being substituted, the next play is being called in, the refs are positioning the ball etc
You have to understand that every single play in football is played with 150% effort. This simply isn’t possible if the same players played the whole game on both sides, you may be performing to the best of your ability but there’s no chance they’ll have the same level of explosiveness as an nfl player late into the game. In straight endurance rugby players may have an edge but that’s not really the point of the game. It’s always maximum effort.
The reason people kick it for extra points is that you're closer and kicks for extra points are pretty automatic they are rarely missed if you pass or run for a 2pt attempt then you are farther back making it easier to be stopped also if you have any other questions lmk because they left some rules and positions out
11:03 You get 2 challenges per game. If the referees rule against you, it costs you a timeout (a small break the coach can call, each coach gets 3 per half). If your 2 challenges are ruled in your favor, you are granted a 3rd. And if you have already used your timeouts, you cannot challenge a play.
Rugby players: Not playing at 100% effort 100% of the time while on the field 100%. American Football: Playing at 100% effort 100% of the time but on only the field ~50%.
You are correct, stamina isn’t as important in the NFL, however that doesn’t make it less hard. This is probably the single most important reason why the NFL has such fast and vicious play. Each player is relatively fresh for every play. And because stamina isn’t trained as much, explosiveness is much higher.
What makes American football so interesting is that there is serious strategy involved by the coaches and players on EVERY play. It is an aggressive chess match.
There's a very high degree of specialization in football. There's a niche for any given body type. Lineman can be 6'6" and 330 lbs or you can find running backs that are 5'8" 180lbs. You also have to appreciate the mental part of the game. It's not as open and fluid as rugby. A player needs to know their own specific responsibility for a specific play and the responsibility of everyone else. Playbooks can be incredibly complex. It's a chess match between coaches. They will swap the personnel on the field to suit the play they've called. A lot of those guys on the sidelines are basically just backups in case someone gets injured. They're 2nd string benchwarmers that get limited playing time. The core starters (offense/defense) are going to be on the field for most of a game.
Kicking the extra point is often considered safer because most of the time, not always, but most of the time it’s automatic. Meaning the kicker kicks the ball up through the uprights and the team is assured a point. Trying to go for 2 however is extremely difficult. I know it doesn’t seem that way but if you watch more games you’ll see quickly why teams choose not to go for 2. Your playbooks becomes extremely limited when you are that close to the goal line and there’s only so many plays you can run. Defenses are very good at stopping the ball and coaches are excellent at planning for offenses that try to go for 2. It’s not automatic and has a very low success rate.
Going for two points is one of those things that is kept tucked into the playbook for unusual circumstances... much like drop kicks, free kicks, "lateral" plays, onside kicks, fake punts, and so on.
Penalties: Most penalties are "team" penalties, IE they carry a loss of yardage, loss of down, or even give the opposing offense a new first down. The penalty depends on the type of infraction, for example a defensive pass interference penalty moves the ball forward to the spot of the foul and awards the offense with an automatic 1st down, while a holding penalty against the offense only carries a 10 yard penalty without the loss of a down, so if it was 2nd&10 it will now be 2nd&20. Teams can opt to decline penalties, for example if the offense is called for holding on 3rd&10, the defense will usually decline the penalty so that it will be 4th&10 instead of 3rd&20, because most teams are going to punt on 4th and long, whereas 3rd down with a long way to go still gives the offense a chance to get a first down or score with a big play, without forfeiting field position if they do not succeed. Players can be ejected from the game if they get 2 "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalties, or if they attack a ref or start a fight. Players can also be suspended for anywhere from 1 game up to the whole season depending on the severity of their infraction, but suspension decisions are left to the league itself, instead of decided on field. Teams can also suspend their own players for breaking team rules, though this is extremely rare. Challenges: As the video said, a failed challenge costs the team the loss of a timeout, however there are further restrictions on challenges. A coach is only allowed 2 challenges per game, but if a coach uses both of his challenges and wins both, then he is awarded a 3rd challenge. All scoring plays are automatically reviewed by the league office live, so they cannot be challenged. Coaches also cannot challenge any call within the final 2 minutes of the 2nd quarter or 4th quarter, the league decides if a play needs to be reviewed during the final 2 mins of each half. Also, only certain aspects of a play can be challenged, for example you can challenge the spot of the ball, whether a pass was incomplete or not, or if a player stepped out of bounds, but you cannot challenge a holding penalty. Finally, if a coach wishes to challenge an on field ruling, he must throw the red flag before the offense snaps the ball for the next play. Once the ball has been snapped again, the previous ruling is final and can no longer be challenged. This means that a coach only has 30-40 seconds to decide if he wants to risk a timeout to challenge a call, so it is actually pretty rare to see a team use 2 challenges in a game. You will sometimes see the offense rush to get to the line and snap the ball again as quickly as possible when they know a call might be reversed in order to prevent the opposing coach from having enough time to decide if he wants to challenge the call.
There is no shortage of things to learn in order to understand what is happening on the field. Even the players numbers are assigned based upon position. In fact it’s the only sport that I’m aware of in which a player’s number can dictate what they can or can’t do on any given play. For example the 5 offensive line players wear numbers 50-79 and during a passing play (i.e. any play in which the offensive team attempts a forward pass) they exclusively are not allowed to advance past the line of scrimmage (the line where the ball was snapped from on that play) before the ball is thrown since they are designated as “ineligible receivers” By this same rule they are also not allowed to be the first players to touch the ball when a forward pass is attempted. Either infraction will result in a 5 yard penalty from the previous line of scrimmage and the down is replayed from that spot. So if the penalty occurred on 1st & 10, the ball would be moved back 5 yards and it would then become 1st & 15. This may be too much to take in, but I’ll share it since it will prove helpful when watching a game. Here is a breakdown of the players number assignments by position in the NFL: OFFENSE: -Quarterback 1-19 -Running back/Full back 20-49 -Wide Receiver 10-19, 80-89 -Tight End 40-49, 80-89 -Offensive Tackle/Guard/Center 50-79 DEFENSE: -Defensive Tackle/End 50-79, 90-99 -Linebacker 40-59, 90-99 -Cornerback/Safety 20-49 SPECIAL TEAMS: -Kicker/Punter 1-19
As to your points about stamina there is something there. American football players train for going all out on every play. So explosion is the name of the game. And as you noticed early in the video with so many back up players they rotate so that most guys don't play all the time as well. Some players do play every down on their side of the ball but with unlimited subs it makes more sense to rotate guys. It is also again what allows players to go full speed all the time while in rugby and soccer you have guys going half speed a lot. As for the specialization of players, yes every player even if they play the same position they play it different. Football is a giant chess game where all your pieces have a mind of their own and the offensive and defensive coaches try and outsmart each other on every single play. They may run one thing over and over knowing it is not working just for a chance that something that looks like it will get a big gain or score.
On the splitting who’s on the field idea. Unlike soccer (I can’t make a rugby comp I’m unfamiliar) where there’s one team on the pitch all game in a marathon style of going hard or being away from the play, in football it’s a 100% sprint every play and it’s unsustainable at the pro level for ache and pain reasons not endurance (for some players. Receivers and corners are the most fit on the field and probably could but definantly not the lineman and big boys). In high school and then a handful of college players who are good enough you see “two way players” who will play offense and defense and almost never come off the field. In addition when you play one side of the ball in theory you’re doubling your practice time for your one position as opposed to splitting it in half. They’re all specialists in their position and are trained to do their specific role.
At 11:00, players being ejected from the game are rare, but serious penalties are adjudicated by league after the fact, and not by game rule. In the game itself, players can continue to play regardless of flags against them.
8:00 It's safer to use the extra point to go for 1pt vs 2pts for many reasons but it ultimately comes down to how likely you are to succeed. The 1pt kick can be down with extreme efficiency in most cases and can be executed very quickly, limiting the opposing teams opportunities to interfere. The 2pt conversion leads to the use of something referred to as a "Redline Defense", or defensive formations specializing in plays close to the defensive endzone. The limited amount of space reduces the viable opportunities of the offense, making them more predictable. This also allows the defense to consolidate more players into less space, drastically increasing their relative field coverage and allowing for more aggressive defensive plays without sacrificing control of the field. When everything is said and done a near guaranteed 1pt conversion is often considered more valuable than a 2pt conversion, even if it's likely to succeed.
It is now pre season football. These 4 games are to give the coaching staff a game speed look at young and/or new players. There are at the moment more players on each team than allowed. By week 1 of the regular season all teams will be cut down to 53 players. My suggestion is to pick 1 team to watch, I've been a Green Bay Packer fan since 1964, this will help avoid confusion as you learn the sport. Most if us that played started young, I started at age 6. I played until my knees gave out 16 years later. I have watched rugby. It's a marathon uphill the entire way. Football is several sprints running into a car driving at you each time.
Overall this was a good overview of the basics to football. As someone who has played American Football, Futbol and Rugby are more akin to a 5k or 10k run and you need great endurance to play the full game, however despite American Football having the start/stop throughout, we are expected to give our all at every snap of the ball. Every position has a job, has to read the opposition and adjust accordingly to make the plays run successfully. Lineman may not get the spotlight very often, but they are the biggest factor for any play every time you snap the ball.
This game is constantly compared to rugby and it simply is not a legit comparison. It has some similarities to rugby but the rules and strategies are vastly different and therefore not comparable. I'm not sure about rugby but in the NFL coaches call offensive and defensive plays and coverages bases on the strength or weaknesses of the opposing team. Each player has a specific responsibility to perform on each plays so they have to memorize dozens and dozens of plays and execute them perfectly. Football is a chess match with moves and counter moves, decoy's, finesse plays, power plays all employed counteract your opponent. Yes, its a bit complicated but a great game nonetheless. Just stop comparing it to rugby.
Penalties are often team-based. While one or more individual player on the offense / defense initially commits the foul, the offense / defense as a whole is penalized with loss of yardage and/or downs depending on the foul (fewest lost yards are 5 and the most is 15). If an individual player is flagged with two "personal foul" penalties, they are ejected or disqualified for the remainder of the game.
@@ukreacts6850 I know you’re new to American Football, but do look in to “Fantasy Football” if you’re really excited about watching the sport, fantasy football is a different breed of following the sport and it puts you in control of drafting players and managing a team.
The extra point is safer because it's easier for a kicker to make the kick than it is for the offense to gain the yards needed for the 2-point conversion.
With time between plays, "media" breaks in larger leagues, halftime, etc. so it usually takes about 4 hours to play a game. That is still a lot of stamina.
In the NFL, there's a difference between blocking and tackling. Clipping is a penalty for blocking a non-ball carrier in the back. This helps explain why some players, while blocking for their ball carrier, avoid hitting a defensive player in the back. Pass interference is a penalty for hitting a receiver before a pass reaches him. Once the receiver touches the ball, he's fair game for punishment. A fair catch can be signaled during a punt. This signal is given by the receiver before the kick reaches him by waving his hands above his head. The receiver can't advance the ball after giving that signal and the defense isn't allowed to tackle him. Otherwise the defense can clobber him. Roughing the kicker is a penalty for hitting the place kicker or punter after the ball has been kicked. Exception are after a kick has been blocked or before the ball has been kicked, then the kicker is fair game (soccer theatrics sometimes occur at this time). At the line of scrimmage, offensive linemen can't use their hands to entangle the defense but the defense can use their hands to work their way through the offense. These are just a few things that might explain some of what happens on the field.
Players can be ejected from a game if the penalty action was considered to be "targeting" (with their helmet) or otherwise intending to cause injury. You can also be ejected for committing multiple personal fouls (unnecessary roughness, unsportsmanlike conduct, etc... they'll even mix and match). On top of the ejection, they're typically fined and occasionally suspended. Fighting will also get you thrown out.
I'm one of the few fans who love the defensive part of the game more. Sacks, interceptions & strategic punting are just as important as running up a big score. Give me a 7-0 shut out over a 28-27 win any day.
In lower levels, kids football (referred to, oftentimes as "pop warner" or "junior league) and high school (even some in college) they play what is called iron man football. Both ways. I did that in high school. I never left the field. My positions were half back, line backer, punt (and kickoff) receiver and Punter (and kickoff kicker). After I ran for a touchdown, I'd kick the extra point, then do the kickoff after the extra point and tackle the receiver, then stay on the field to play linebacker. In college and exclusively in pro football, they dont play iron man football. They are specialists on one side of the ball. Not to say a defensive corner back couldn't play wide receiver... but they just dont due to the specialization.
FYI There are several variants of gridiron football. The NFL and American College Football have largely similar rules, but a few minor differences. Upstart pro leagues like the failed UFL and AAF, and the XFL (on hold this year after a bankruptcy from the virus and sale of the league to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and company) have introduced subtle changes to try to make the game a bit safer while maintaining excitement. The CFL -- the Canadian Football League -- has a number of more substantial changes, like a larger playing field (110 yards), 12 men per side, only 3 downs instead of 4 per possession, and more. And then there are the Arena leagues -- indoor football, usually on a 50 yard field (instead of 100), smaller teams, and modifications to allow for the smaller field size. The newest of these, the FCF (Fan Controlled Football), has its championship tonight (March 20, 2021 at 8pm EDT/5pm PDT) on their FCF Twitch channel. It's a different game, in that the fans VOTE on which play to execute next via their app. It's more like a video game with live players than a traditional football game. It's 7 players per side, 50 yard field, no kicking, two 20 minute halves with a clock that runs almost continuously. Still, fun to watch and it's free.
it's technically a 60 minute game, but really they take about 3 hours to complete. There's lots of clock stoppage, and managing the clock is one of the most important parts of football strategy. It's different than endurance games like rugby, soccer, or basketball, in that instead of managing a pace you can keep up across 90 minutes, it's played in short bursts of all out power. This is why the hits can be so big. Lots of short sprints etc. Both are very physically demanding, just in different ways
It’s 8 seconds of absolute chaos and adrenaline to the max. You tie one hand to a 1600 pound muscle train and have to stay on for 8 seconds without touching him with your free arm then a whistle blows letting you know 8 seconds is up and to get off. If you don’t stay on for 8 seconds you get absolutely nothing it’s one of the only professional sports in the world that you don’t have contracts or get paid to just show up. If you don’t ride you get nothing.
You can only learn so much from these videos you have to pick a team you like and root for it through a season, watching all their games live if possible and then you'll learn nearly all there is to know. ..
I think the endurance level on American football is very comparable to rugby because football players wear pads, also helmets can effect how u view the field and react to plays, strategy is key more than strategy in rugby
Lots of good information from the others commenting here. Let me add just a few points I didn't see mentioned: Yes, 60 minutes of playing time, but with the time the clock is stopped (incomplete passes stop the clock, for instance, where as running the football keeps the clock running) sitting down to watch a football game is a 3 hour event. Clock management is a big deal at the end of the game. A team in the lead near the end of the 4th quarter is likely to run the football a lot to keep eating time so the opponent won't have time to score if they get the ball again. Likewise, a team that is behind will frequently opt to pass the ball frequently near the end of the game so they can stop the clock if the pass is incomplete or if the receiver runs out of bounds with the ball.
This video is pretty funny imo, he explains the offense with a shot of a trips left shotgun formation and then illustrates it with an I-formation set. Also using footage of a Cowboys vs Jags game for all of it is just funny for some reason lol
Players don't get ejected by commiting multiple fouls but their team still gets punished by the yards they lose. However if a player does something stupid, like for example hitting a another player with their helmet, then they will be ejected.
The point divergence of Football from what became Rugby (which happened sometime in the 1870s) was that Football permitted interference (or as we call it, blocking). This means that most players are engaged at all times while the ball is in play. There isn't really a quiet corner to take a blow mid game. If you watch enough games sometimes the defense will begin to wear down in the late game (too many consecutive plays) and the offense can grind out yardage on basic power plays (a good safe way to kill the game off). Two-Platoon (offense/defense splits) came in with World War II (not enough players who could stick out a whole game). It stuck in the pros and eventually came back in college. Partially because it made the game more exciting (more offense, before that there was a lot of punting on early downs. A few players have done spot 2-way play with a few playing maybe 70% of the snaps in the last half century. Most of these have been wide receivers/defensive backs. Charles "Concrete Charlie" Bednarik played both ways on everything but kickoffs (Center and Linebacker) for the 1960 Eagles and that was a rare feat by then (he played offense that year for the first time in almost a decade because of injuries). But Bednarik was considered one of the all time "tough guys" (the nickname was only partially a reflection of the company he ran in the off-season, he once hit Frank Gifford so hard, he knocked him out of football for a year and there was fear he'd killed him). Penalties can include ejection at the official's discretion (touch a zebra and you are GONE, throw a punch, GONE). The league deals with suspensions and fines after the game in question. Teams do NOT play short handed. Rugby and football (and soccer and League and Canadian Rules) all developed (or better, evolved) from a common set of sets of rules. This is why a lot of rules and sometimes just terms carry over (scrimage/scrum, touchdown). The American sports had to pay their way from quite early, which is why they got downs (there was a noted college game where neither team tried to score and just held the ball all half), downs were in the next year. League was probably looking at downs when they instituted "tackles" (for similar reasons) a few decades on.
In the NFL each coach is given 2 challenges per game. Coaches may NOT challenge calls in the last 2 minutes of each half, they are instead initiated by the officials to prevent end of half/game gamesmanship. Unsuccessful challenges penalize the team 1 timeout(thus you cannon challenge a play if your team has 0 timeouts). If a Coach successfully challenges 2 plays in a game, they are given a third to use. The NFL was conscious of your "challenge every play" strategy.
Players rarely get personally penalized for committing a penalty. Most of the time penalty’s result in the offense losing yards or the defense forfeiting yards depending on which team committed the penalty. For example, if an offensive lineman holds a defensive player (grabbing onto their equipment instead of brute forcing them out of the way) then the play is nullified, the offense moves backwards 5 yards, and the down starts over. One thing that does get a player thrown out of a game is Targeting. That’s when a player hits another player in the head. This rarely happens but that’s the harshest penalty you’ll really see. The player that got penalized has to leave the game and that players team just subs in a new player
There are actually 53 total players on n NFL team and if you can have 11 players on the field at a time, but the offense is 11, the defense is 11, special teams is 11, a place kicker and a punter, that is already 35 players. And there is usually only reserve player for each position (more for quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers who get hurt more often).
The offense is usually a lot more focused on achieving a new first down than scoring. The scoring becomes more and more possible as the ball's forward progress nears the end zone. The defense, as they lose ground to the offense, are more and more vulnerable to a greater variety of plays which can score. Kicking for one extra point is much preferred over passing for two extra points because kicking for one extra point at such short range is nearly always successful. Passing for two extra points is only successful maybe 50% of the time as each of the receivers is double or triple covered as no long range passes need to be covered. When passing, there is also the risk the defense gains control of the ball and runs it back for considerable yards or even a touchdown. ..
Football is about short intense burst of energy so that’s why they hit hard. Rugby is more like endurance sports. You can’t really say which one is harder. Both sports are physically and mentally taxing. American football players also needs to have good memories too. They are given 3-4 inch thick binder folders that has all the plays. They have to memorize it in a short period of time because the quarterback can call on any of these plays so you have to be ready. It’s given to them before the season starts and while training. Think of this sport like a combination of chess and collision sport. You should watch HBO’s Hard-knocks. It gives you a glimpse of what these players go through before the season even starts.
Players can be suspended, banned, and/or fined which could lead to tens of thousands of dollars. The ban can be for a few weeks while suspension leads to the rest of the year. They can practice but cannot play in a game. Sometimes players are traded to another team. If there is still an ongoing contract, the other team must pay for the remainder of the contract to the original team. NFL teams make a lot more money with merchandise. I carry a Pittsburgh Steelers lighter and have a Steelers jacket.
Most players play less than half the game. Only people like the quarterbacks are really needed for every single play on their side of the ball. A star reciever may be pulled out for goalline "package" where the biggest offensive players are ther to push the ball a yard or two into the enzone. A running back may make a big 50 yard run and then sit out the next play while his backup comes in. Every position usually has one or more backups. And some players are especially good at some things and come in only for plays that do that thing. (I.e. a tight end may be really good at catching or may be really good at blocking).
A coach only gets 2 challenge flags a game and if the call is not reversed, the coach's team loses a Timeout. Football players can be suspended or fined by the league depending on their penalty. It's not a penalty, but for example, throwing a NFL football into the stands for fans costs players $5,250. It's not a lot when you earn $2 million every year, but still.
You don't understand how much a team has to have endurance especially if one team is able to hold onto the ball for most of the game. As for penalties, it is normally against a certain player, and that player's number is called. If the penalty is bad enough the player can get thrown out of the game.
The amount of skill required to do any one position ended up evolving football to have each position be specialized. Plus the time in btwn plays allows for teams to have very very in depth play books thar require each player to learn all types of plays and strategies suited for their position. But that doesn’t mean the players don’t experience exhaustion. The amount of effort put forth in one play is a lot. And there are often 10-15 play drives down the field to score. So there is a huge amount of conditioning needed…
There's 1st string (starting), 2nd string, 3rd string on positions. Obviously you want to start the game with your best players, but you may decide you want to save your best player for later in the game (3 hours later) so you take him out for a bit, and the backup goes in. And with all the injuries that happen, you must have a backup for each position (one way or another)
Not sure if this has been covered. Rugby and American football players need different types of endurance. Every play in football is a sprint or a heavy deadlift and sprint if you're a lineman. Im sure a rugby player would be better at running for distance, but football is just sprint after sprint. Both are difficult.
There are SO many more rules, and also, a game usually lasts 3 hours, as the clock stops on many things. If the player with the ball runs off the side of the field,, of if there is a penalty, of if there is an incomplete pass, or if there is a score, or a timeout - the clock stops and resumes on the next play starting. There CAN sometimes also be short stops of the clock while the ball is repositioned, but the clock restarts as soon as the referee completes the ball positioning.. The best way to learn the rules is to watch a game full recap with someone who knows the game. I'd be happy to do this with you.
Yes there is a limit to coach challenges. A coach can only challenge a maximum of three plays per half, and that's only if all his challenges turn out to be ruled in his favor.
UKreacts:. As someone said college football and its rules are very similar to the NFL. Because of Covid 19 a second level of college football moved their games from last fall to this spring. So on the weekends you can find some live college football games on now. But be aware that some college teams run a different looking offense compared to what NFL teams run.
You had a question about Challenges and if players could get ejected (red carded as such) from the game. Yes, ever since Concussion Awareness has seeped into the game, any intentional hit when leading with the helmet can, and often does, result in a player getting ejected or disqualified from the game, and they have to leave the field. These rulings are somewhat controversial because a lot of the times it's just a matter of bad timing of how the hit goes down, so the officials have to thoroughly analyze the replays to determine intent. Challenges...yes, there is a limit to how many times PER HALF that coaches can challenge a call on the field. And that number is 3. If the challenge is successful, the call is reversed and the play is reset or nullified. If the challenge is unsuccessful, meaning that after further review the challenge had no standing as such, the team issuing the challenge loses the chalkenge (obviously) but as also suffers a loss of Down if on Offense. So there's a penalty if the Offensive Team issues a Challenge and it is deemed to be a False Flag, so to speak. So yes, issuing Challenges are a bit risky. And not every kind of play can be reviewed or challenged. So if you really want to Challenge a call, you better he damn sure of your convictions. But what generally happens is, is there is a visible replay on the screens around the stadium after close, questionable plays that everybody can see, right? And so when any average joe can see that the Refs may have gotten a call wrong, the affected Team's coach will throw the Challenge flag. But like I said, they only have 3 challenge attempts per half...6 total throughout the game.
The way the game is played, it would be to hard on your body week in and week out for players to play both offense and defense. Technically they are allowed to play both positions, but it rarely happens.
Because of the physicality of Football, there is NO WAY anyone could be on the field for every play, on every game, every year. The average career span is already under 5 years......most guys body's breakdown before anything else. Like you said in an earlier video, it looks like there is a car crash happening on every play".....which literally is what is happening. Each game has about 80-100 plays per team/per game......they also play 16 weeks and have 1 bye (off) week......some of the teams play twice in one week Sunday & Thursday So 80 plays, 16 weeks, possibly playing 2 times in 5 days once a year.......there are very few (if any......EVER) who would be able to do what you're proposing in playing every play over a season. Not sure if you're a video game fan, but playing the Madden franchise can help you acclimate yourself to the game a little more while you wait for the season to start.......You could also check out The NFL Network.....its 24/7 football, and although its the off-season, something is always happening. It could be a good way to familiarize yourself with some of the big names who are currently playing. As always man, good stuff. P.S. There should be a compilation of the best games, or some of the greatest moments (The Drive, The Catch, The Tuck Rule Game, etc) that you can watch that can/should help as well. A lot of those videos should be documentary style, where they explain whats happening and interview some of the players who participated.
Players workouts focus on explosive power, change of direction and speed . Think of instant electric powered car vs a gas powered car . Indurance is important but 2nd to explosiveness, speed, agility or power .
Rugby definitely requires more overall strength/endurance teamwide. Put them up against an offensive lineman and they could easily out run them, but in the weight room, the big guys would make them look small. Same with a receiver as the rugby player could probably take and give a much bigger hit, but would he left behind in a race. The different teams mean they can specialize all the more which leads to more efficient skill players and...unfortunately stronger hitters.
Since Football season hasn’t started yet perhaps you can do reactions to longer videos like highlights of an actual game. They usually have these on TH-cam and the Super Bowl or championship game is typically 20 minutes of highlights. It might take longer to edit but will definitely help you get exposed to this game more before football season starts
Team coaches are allowed three challenges per half. And since coaches know that they are limited to only three per half, then they use their challenges only on extremely important plays, and where they have a realistic expectation of successfully changing the ruling on the field. And if their challenge is not successful, then the challenging team loses one of it's three timeouts that is has per half. Coaches won't risk losing their timeouts, by making unnecessary challenges.
The NFL is so brutal that players simply can't play both offense and defense. The injuries would pile up and half the team would be out of action before too long. Every once in a while there are players who play on both sides of the ball, but it's very rare at the NFL or college football level.
The game goes on about 3.5 hours - not 60 mins. It all depends - you would have to watch a full game to see how this works. It is 4 -15 min quarters but they never are that short. It’s something you have to watch and see. They play for hours
IN NFL clock stops more, so the 60 to 80 ratio is not quite as accurate. For most of the time the clock is running, all players are going full speed, so it's really energy consuming. And you know, they wear a lot of gear, that's heavy.
In football they only play an hour but every time the ball is snapped everyone has to give it their all. You won’t see anybody standing around everyone is blocking with full strength the opposing defense is coming at you with full strength. So every time he get set for a new play everyone has to explode with full strength all over again. Rugby you’re not starting every time with everyone at the same time exploding with all their strength. Blocking, running down the field to get open making tackles always giving it 100%.
only 2 challenges per game. if the coach challenges 2 plays and is correct for both, he gets a 3rd and final challenge awarded to him. as for penalties, there are many that can be called that will either gain your team or lose you team some yards. Penalties for when a player is sent off is usually for committing 2 unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in a game. Like throwing punches at a player or possibly for some illegal tackles.
A lot of rules are different in college football and especially Canadian football. There are 130 college teams in the premier division. College football is more popular than the NFL in some regions.
Offense and defense on a team usually aren't always on equal rotation of field time Especially if one side plays like crap like an offense thats constantly having a quick "3 and out" which means they can never progress the ball past the initial 10 yards and punt it away leaving the defense to stay on the field longer There's times where for a whole quarter one unit stays on the field for a very long drive back from their 5yd line and gruadually have to get to their endzone Also you gotta note in the NFL although not marathon runners they are expected to reach top speeds all game which burns you out while taking those hits especially for those who are in the range of running a 4.2 - 4.5 in the 40 yd dash and the play time is 60 minutes but because of the stop and start again between plays the clock time stops too so on average they're there for 4 hours playing. You'll also see in a game when a team is behind is that the offense runs a "Hurry Up Offense" where immedialy when a play is over they give no time for breaks and rush back to the line to run play after play to score as fast as possible The wear and tear on their bodies on average unless you're some of the hall of famers and some veterans Is so bad that a statistic said the average NFL player career span is 2-3 years And thats just from playing strictly on offense or defense so imagine if they all universally played both sides
So I grew up playing football until I graduated high school, when I joined the military and was stationed overseas I picked up a local rugby league, While yes rugby players are on the field the whole game I found myself jogging and waiting to get involved 3/4 of the time and actually going 100% 1/4 of the time. In football you are going 100% every play. Playing at 100% every play was more taxing in my opinion than only playing 100% 1/4 of the time in rugby
You have to realize... because the NFL players are only playing Offense or Defense, they are going literally 100% every play. You will even sometime see guys on the sidelines with oxygen tanks trying to get their "strength" back. The bigger guys inside are fighting 250-350lbs dudes for position, think of this as like... pushing your car in neutral as hard as you possibly can for 8 seconds... then take a 30 second break, repeat till possession changes. Receivers and defensive back are sprinting at 100% for 20-60yds every single play, rest 30 seconds and then do it again... while cutting, sometimes having to fight dudes 170-250lbs on blocks, or even having to get through the 350lbs linemen. You also have to realize that the 60 minute timer for a game stops... A LOT... if a pass is dropped clock stops(this also allows quarterbacks to "spike" the ball(throw it into the ground) to sacrifice a play in order to stop the clock), if someone goes out of bounds, if a timeout is called, etc... sometimes the last "two minutes" of a game can last a full half an hour because the clock is only running for the 3-8 seconds it takes to run the play then it stops, .. An NFL game usually lasts around 4 hours total.
Even if you consider that a American Football player is playing half of the game, try doing balls out wind sprints for 30 minutes mixed in with a bunch of aggression and a car crash equivalent collision occurring every couple of downs, it really takes a toll. The two greatest lessons they teach you is the harder you hit the less likely you will get hurt, deliver the blow. Also, tackle through the runner so you force them backwards and stop their forward progress. I played linebacker in high school and trying to gather your senses after a big hit and being ready for the next play was harder than catching my breath. Playing on the offensive or defensive line in the trenches, where the big boys play, there is a massive collision of huge guys every single play. That just wears on you throughout the game. If ones team offense is successful and constantly on the field the opposing teams defense will just wear down over time. If an offense sees your out of breath they will just keep going after you, and one mistake by a defensive back or linebacker and you give up a touchdown.
11:14 Flagrant fouls by players will get them ejected from the game. It's up to the game official, Refs, as to what that is. 'Targeting' leading with your helmet against the opponent is the reason most players are ejected now.
I think to help with this, he may want to watch some examples of ejections. Greatest NFL Ejections could be a great start as the commentators are speaking as well.
When it's a close game/teams evenly matched, the starting players will be there throughout the game unless injured. It's important for the offense to keep possession of the ball, because the defensive players will usually tire out first and so really need those extra minutes to get their breath back...this won't happen if their team's offense goes "three and out" (three plays that fail to move the ball ten yards, so the ball has to be turned back over to the opposing team). Kicking for one extra point is almost a given; it's very rare for the kicker to miss or the ball blocked. Trying for a two-point conversion is a much less than fifty-fifty proposition, so it is normally attempted only if (a) there's no other good option because of a losing score and little time left, or (b) if it fails, it wouldn't be disastrous for the team. Players are ejected (termed "disqualified") by the referees mainly for two reasons: (1) flagrant personal fouls like stomping on a player or ripping a opponent's helmet off, or (2) egregious unsportsmanlike conduct like hurling your own helmet while on the field or deliberately making contact with an official. Depending on the severity of the offense, at the least there's a hefty monetary fine, and sometimes suspension for one or more games.
Again, since you have offensive and defensive teams, that means throughout the game players retain their speed and exhaustion is not as much of a problem. So guys are hitting pretty much as hard in the 4th quarter as in the first. And remember, the NFL is about bursts of speed (anaerobic), not endurance (aerobic).
he's confusing endurance for athleticism and strength. rugby players may have more endurance, dont get it twisted thinking NFL players dont.
In Football EACH PLAY on offense or defense is planned out with diagrams in a playbook, studied in class/meeting and rehearsed multiple times in practice.
A player has to know the play, his assignment, his reads, any adjustments and then finally use the proper technique for that assignment.
The more prepared a player is mentally the faster he can play physically. Its a lot of processing information then reacting with the correct response
Football is about explosiveness. NFL players have plenty of stamina but that's not what the game is about. Stamina, endurance in football is about maintaining explosiveness in late game situations and resisting the effects of injury because everyone plays hurt after the first game.
Kicking the extra point is successful around 94% of the time, compared to around 50% for 2 point conversions.
A kick has fewer elements to the play that can go wrong on the offensive side of the ball.
3:37 Think of Rugby players as 5k or 10k meter runners and AF players as sprinters. Even when a player is on the sideline, he still has to have the game in his head and be ready, at a moments notice, to be put into the game; at no time is there mind nor body rest and if there is, woe to him. Although AF is derived from Rugby, it developed into a completely different sport, comparisons will be tricky.
There'a a reason for teams having 40+ players, they get hurt all the time and substitutions are often. The "next man up" mentality is a real one in american football.
A big ideology and coaching point in football is to “do your job” because all 11 players have a different assignment on that play, and the idea is if everyone can do their job correctly the play will be successful
Unlike in Rugby, Football always has another player trying to manhandle you with everything they’ve got each and every play. At no point in America Football is a player untouched without contract. So while it’s 60 minutes, it’s 60 minutes of constant contact. In Rugby, only the player with the ball gets hit.
I've played Left and Right Guard on offense, and Nose Tackle on Defense in high school. In levels lower than university, this can be quite common. In university, it is a little more rare for people to play both ways, and on special teams, but it does happen. In pro football, I've not heard of it ever occurring in recent years. Also, keep in mind that NFL games are about 3 hours or 180 minutes, which is more than double the 80 minutes in rugby games. Another thing to keep in mind is that every down is basically a hard sprint. Doing this at an average height and weight of 6'2 (1.88 m) and 245 lbs. (111 kg) with 8-12 lbs. (3.6 - 5.4 kg) of gear, whilst running at an average speed of 1-1.5 m/s is quite tough.
Most football games from atleast high school and up are 3 hours long
Well here we go again with comparing football with rugby, rugby is a continuous moving game so someone playing it needs a tremendous amount of stamina, football is very start and stop, but enormous amounts of energy are needed when someone is moving. football is high-level skilled sport, you have to devise and execute plays, and you have to have very good throwing and catching skills which are far beyond any rugby player, just name me every rugby player that has made it to the NFL, yes I cant think of any either. Not to mention football payers have to play in any type of weather, rain snow, very hot to freezing temps.
i agree with everything up to the weather part- that pretty much extends to most outdoor sports like rugby, football, hockey, lacrosse etc
I agree with you but rugby players have made it. Christian Wade, Jordan mailatta and Christian Williamson have done it
I wish everyone would STOP comparing Rugby and American football! The similarity between these two sports are VERY superficial at best.
7:07 usually those players on special teams are backup players
The clock stops after quite a lot of plays, the games take longer. Every time there’s an incomplete pass, someone goes out of bounds, the clock temporarily stops after every first down to reset the yard markers, It stops when the teams switch offense/defense special teams units, when there’s a penalty, after any points are scored, etc. the average nfl game actually lasts around 3 hours. Also the nfl pioneered the instant replay for rulings and it’s generally a good thing for the sport, unlike var in the prem
60 minutes is strictly playing time, games are much longer. A normal game is around three hours, but the record is seven hours (double OT on the old rules, an extra 22:40 of play time).
Yes, rugby and soccer both value endurance much more than NFL's pure sprinting speeds, which is why the most common running stats in the combine (recruiting) are 40 and 100 yard dashes.
On the flip side of that, some of those dash speeds are literally Olympic class... Usain Bolt came by in 2019 and granted he wasn't trying his best, but managed to tie the league record 40 yard time of 4.22 seconds. Players are regularly... and I do mean regularly... clocked at over 20mph, with Raheem Mostert running 23.09mph in one play last (2020) season.
The main reason there are separate Offensive & Defensive units, is because the techniques, designed plays, responsibilities & skill sets are completely different from O to D positions. I do have to say, having watched & played both sports, there is WAY more full speed sprinting during a Football game compared to Rugby
Also, A Football Game isn’t just 60 mins, the game doesn’t have a Running Clock, like Rugby or Football, the Game Clock is stopped when plays go out of bounds, a pass is dropped, or a change of possession. Clock Management is huge tactical part of Game Strategy. The games are usually 2 to 2/12 hours long. Also there is a lot going on between plays, it may look like they’re just standing around, but players are being substituted, the next play is being called in, the refs are positioning the ball etc
You have to understand that every single play in football is played with 150% effort. This simply isn’t possible if the same players played the whole game on both sides, you may be performing to the best of your ability but there’s no chance they’ll have the same level of explosiveness as an nfl player late into the game. In straight endurance rugby players may have an edge but that’s not really the point of the game. It’s always maximum effort.
The reason people kick it for extra points is that you're closer and kicks for extra points are pretty automatic they are rarely missed if you pass or run for a 2pt attempt then you are farther back making it easier to be stopped also if you have any other questions lmk because they left some rules and positions out
Also want to watch a video together I'll be able to answer questions as we watch
11:03
You get 2 challenges per game. If the referees rule against you, it costs you a timeout (a small break the coach can call, each coach gets 3 per half). If your 2 challenges are ruled in your favor, you are granted a 3rd. And if you have already used your timeouts, you cannot challenge a play.
Rugby players: Not playing at 100% effort 100% of the time while on the field 100%. American Football: Playing at 100% effort 100% of the time but on only the field ~50%.
You are correct, stamina isn’t as important in the NFL, however that doesn’t make it less hard. This is probably the single most important reason why the NFL has such fast and vicious play. Each player is relatively fresh for every play. And because stamina isn’t trained as much, explosiveness is much higher.
Been searching for more reaction videos so long found channel for ones I never seen ❤. Thanks
What makes American football so interesting is that there is serious strategy involved by the coaches and players on EVERY play. It is an aggressive chess match.
There's a very high degree of specialization in football. There's a niche for any given body type. Lineman can be 6'6" and 330 lbs or you can find running backs that are 5'8" 180lbs. You also have to appreciate the mental part of the game. It's not as open and fluid as rugby. A player needs to know their own specific responsibility for a specific play and the responsibility of everyone else. Playbooks can be incredibly complex. It's a chess match between coaches. They will swap the personnel on the field to suit the play they've called.
A lot of those guys on the sidelines are basically just backups in case someone gets injured. They're 2nd string benchwarmers that get limited playing time. The core starters (offense/defense) are going to be on the field for most of a game.
Kicking the extra point is often considered safer because most of the time, not always, but most of the time it’s automatic. Meaning the kicker kicks the ball up through the uprights and the team is assured a point.
Trying to go for 2 however is extremely difficult. I know it doesn’t seem that way but if you watch more games you’ll see quickly why teams choose not to go for 2. Your playbooks becomes extremely limited when you are that close to the goal line and there’s only so many plays you can run. Defenses are very good at stopping the ball and coaches are excellent at planning for offenses that try to go for 2. It’s not automatic and has a very low success rate.
Going for two points is one of those things that is kept tucked into the playbook for unusual circumstances... much like drop kicks, free kicks, "lateral" plays, onside kicks, fake punts, and so on.
Penalties: Most penalties are "team" penalties, IE they carry a loss of yardage, loss of down, or even give the opposing offense a new first down. The penalty depends on the type of infraction, for example a defensive pass interference penalty moves the ball forward to the spot of the foul and awards the offense with an automatic 1st down, while a holding penalty against the offense only carries a 10 yard penalty without the loss of a down, so if it was 2nd&10 it will now be 2nd&20. Teams can opt to decline penalties, for example if the offense is called for holding on 3rd&10, the defense will usually decline the penalty so that it will be 4th&10 instead of 3rd&20, because most teams are going to punt on 4th and long, whereas 3rd down with a long way to go still gives the offense a chance to get a first down or score with a big play, without forfeiting field position if they do not succeed. Players can be ejected from the game if they get 2 "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalties, or if they attack a ref or start a fight. Players can also be suspended for anywhere from 1 game up to the whole season depending on the severity of their infraction, but suspension decisions are left to the league itself, instead of decided on field. Teams can also suspend their own players for breaking team rules, though this is extremely rare.
Challenges: As the video said, a failed challenge costs the team the loss of a timeout, however there are further restrictions on challenges. A coach is only allowed 2 challenges per game, but if a coach uses both of his challenges and wins both, then he is awarded a 3rd challenge. All scoring plays are automatically reviewed by the league office live, so they cannot be challenged. Coaches also cannot challenge any call within the final 2 minutes of the 2nd quarter or 4th quarter, the league decides if a play needs to be reviewed during the final 2 mins of each half. Also, only certain aspects of a play can be challenged, for example you can challenge the spot of the ball, whether a pass was incomplete or not, or if a player stepped out of bounds, but you cannot challenge a holding penalty. Finally, if a coach wishes to challenge an on field ruling, he must throw the red flag before the offense snaps the ball for the next play. Once the ball has been snapped again, the previous ruling is final and can no longer be challenged. This means that a coach only has 30-40 seconds to decide if he wants to risk a timeout to challenge a call, so it is actually pretty rare to see a team use 2 challenges in a game. You will sometimes see the offense rush to get to the line and snap the ball again as quickly as possible when they know a call might be reversed in order to prevent the opposing coach from having enough time to decide if he wants to challenge the call.
There is no shortage of things to learn in order to understand what is happening on the field. Even the players numbers are assigned based upon position. In fact it’s the only sport that I’m aware of in which a player’s number can dictate what they can or can’t do on any given play.
For example the 5 offensive line players wear numbers 50-79 and during a passing play (i.e. any play in which the offensive team attempts a forward pass) they exclusively are not allowed to advance past the line of scrimmage (the line where the ball was snapped from on that play) before the ball is thrown since they are designated as “ineligible receivers”
By this same rule they are also not allowed to be the first players to touch the ball when a forward pass is attempted. Either infraction will result in a 5 yard penalty from the previous line of scrimmage and the down is replayed from that spot. So if the penalty occurred on 1st & 10, the ball would be moved back 5 yards and it would then become 1st & 15.
This may be too much to take in, but I’ll share it since it will prove helpful when watching a game. Here is a breakdown of the players number assignments by position in the NFL:
OFFENSE:
-Quarterback 1-19
-Running back/Full back 20-49
-Wide Receiver 10-19, 80-89
-Tight End 40-49, 80-89
-Offensive Tackle/Guard/Center 50-79
DEFENSE:
-Defensive Tackle/End 50-79, 90-99
-Linebacker 40-59, 90-99
-Cornerback/Safety 20-49
SPECIAL TEAMS:
-Kicker/Punter 1-19
As to your points about stamina there is something there. American football players train for going all out on every play. So explosion is the name of the game. And as you noticed early in the video with so many back up players they rotate so that most guys don't play all the time as well. Some players do play every down on their side of the ball but with unlimited subs it makes more sense to rotate guys. It is also again what allows players to go full speed all the time while in rugby and soccer you have guys going half speed a lot.
As for the specialization of players, yes every player even if they play the same position they play it different. Football is a giant chess game where all your pieces have a mind of their own and the offensive and defensive coaches try and outsmart each other on every single play. They may run one thing over and over knowing it is not working just for a chance that something that looks like it will get a big gain or score.
On the splitting who’s on the field idea. Unlike soccer (I can’t make a rugby comp I’m unfamiliar) where there’s one team on the pitch all game in a marathon style of going hard or being away from the play, in football it’s a 100% sprint every play and it’s unsustainable at the pro level for ache and pain reasons not endurance (for some players. Receivers and corners are the most fit on the field and probably could but definantly not the lineman and big boys). In high school and then a handful of college players who are good enough you see “two way players” who will play offense and defense and almost never come off the field. In addition when you play one side of the ball in theory you’re doubling your practice time for your one position as opposed to splitting it in half. They’re all specialists in their position and are trained to do their specific role.
At 11:00, players being ejected from the game are rare, but serious penalties are adjudicated by league after the fact, and not by game rule. In the game itself, players can continue to play regardless of flags against them.
8:00 It's safer to use the extra point to go for 1pt vs 2pts for many reasons but it ultimately comes down to how likely you are to succeed. The 1pt kick can be down with extreme efficiency in most cases and can be executed very quickly, limiting the opposing teams opportunities to interfere. The 2pt conversion leads to the use of something referred to as a "Redline Defense", or defensive formations specializing in plays close to the defensive endzone. The limited amount of space reduces the viable opportunities of the offense, making them more predictable. This also allows the defense to consolidate more players into less space, drastically increasing their relative field coverage and allowing for more aggressive defensive plays without sacrificing control of the field. When everything is said and done a near guaranteed 1pt conversion is often considered more valuable than a 2pt conversion, even if it's likely to succeed.
The time is 60 minutes however with all of the stoppage in the game due to time outs and stuff like that it takes like 3 and a half hours
Games are typically like 3 hours, sometimes more if overtime happens
It is now pre season football. These 4 games are to give the coaching staff a game speed look at young and/or new players. There are at the moment more players on each team than allowed. By week 1 of the regular season all teams will be cut down to 53 players. My suggestion is to pick 1 team to watch, I've been a Green Bay Packer fan since 1964, this will help avoid confusion as you learn the sport. Most if us that played started young, I started at age 6. I played until my knees gave out 16 years later. I have watched rugby. It's a marathon uphill the entire way. Football is several sprints running into a car driving at you each time.
Overall this was a good overview of the basics to football. As someone who has played American Football, Futbol and Rugby are more akin to a 5k or 10k run and you need great endurance to play the full game, however despite American Football having the start/stop throughout, we are expected to give our all at every snap of the ball. Every position has a job, has to read the opposition and adjust accordingly to make the plays run successfully. Lineman may not get the spotlight very often, but they are the biggest factor for any play every time you snap the ball.
So glad you uploaded I really loved finding your vids last week. Also I love the inspiration and idea for the video
This game is constantly compared to rugby and it simply is not a legit comparison. It has some similarities to rugby but the rules and strategies are vastly different and therefore not comparable. I'm not sure about rugby but in the NFL coaches call offensive and defensive plays and coverages bases on the strength or weaknesses of the opposing team. Each player has a specific responsibility to perform on each plays so they have to memorize dozens and dozens of plays and execute them perfectly. Football is a chess match with moves and counter moves, decoy's, finesse plays, power plays all employed counteract your opponent. Yes, its a bit complicated but a great game nonetheless. Just stop comparing it to rugby.
Penalties are often team-based. While one or more individual player on the offense / defense initially commits the foul, the offense / defense as a whole is penalized with loss of yardage and/or downs depending on the foul (fewest lost yards are 5 and the most is 15). If an individual player is flagged with two "personal foul" penalties, they are ejected or disqualified for the remainder of the game.
So excited for you to watch your first live NFL game this fall.
Me too mate!
@@ukreacts6850 I know you’re new to American Football, but do look in to “Fantasy Football” if you’re really excited about watching the sport, fantasy football is a different breed of following the sport and it puts you in control of drafting players and managing a team.
The extra point is safer because it's easier for a kicker to make the kick than it is for the offense to gain the yards needed for the 2-point conversion.
Yes losing a precious time out is a huge thing to give up so challenges are rare.
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With time between plays, "media" breaks in larger leagues, halftime, etc. so it usually takes about 4 hours to play a game. That is still a lot of stamina.
In the NFL, there's a difference between blocking and tackling. Clipping is a penalty for blocking a non-ball carrier in the back. This helps explain why some players, while blocking for their ball carrier, avoid hitting a defensive player in the back. Pass interference is a penalty for hitting a receiver before a pass reaches him. Once the receiver touches the ball, he's fair game for punishment. A fair catch can be signaled during a punt. This signal is given by the receiver before the kick reaches him by waving his hands above his head. The receiver can't advance the ball after giving that signal and the defense isn't allowed to tackle him. Otherwise the defense can clobber him. Roughing the kicker is a penalty for hitting the place kicker or punter after the ball has been kicked. Exception are after a kick has been blocked or before the ball has been kicked, then the kicker is fair game (soccer theatrics sometimes occur at this time). At the line of scrimmage, offensive linemen can't use their hands to entangle the defense but the defense can use their hands to work their way through the offense. These are just a few things that might explain some of what happens on the field.
Players can be ejected from a game if the penalty action was considered to be "targeting" (with their helmet) or otherwise intending to cause injury. You can also be ejected for committing multiple personal fouls (unnecessary roughness, unsportsmanlike conduct, etc... they'll even mix and match). On top of the ejection, they're typically fined and occasionally suspended. Fighting will also get you thrown out.
I'm one of the few fans who love the defensive part of the game more. Sacks, interceptions & strategic punting are just as important as running up a big score. Give me a 7-0 shut out over a 28-27 win any day.
In lower levels, kids football (referred to, oftentimes as "pop warner" or "junior league) and high school (even some in college) they play what is called iron man football. Both ways. I did that in high school. I never left the field. My positions were half back, line backer, punt (and kickoff) receiver and Punter (and kickoff kicker). After I ran for a touchdown, I'd kick the extra point, then do the kickoff after the extra point and tackle the receiver, then stay on the field to play linebacker. In college and exclusively in pro football, they dont play iron man football. They are specialists on one side of the ball. Not to say a defensive corner back couldn't play wide receiver... but they just dont due to the specialization.
FYI There are several variants of gridiron football. The NFL and American College Football have largely similar rules, but a few minor differences. Upstart pro leagues like the failed UFL and AAF, and the XFL (on hold this year after a bankruptcy from the virus and sale of the league to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and company) have introduced subtle changes to try to make the game a bit safer while maintaining excitement. The CFL -- the Canadian Football League -- has a number of more substantial changes, like a larger playing field (110 yards), 12 men per side, only 3 downs instead of 4 per possession, and more. And then there are the Arena leagues -- indoor football, usually on a 50 yard field (instead of 100), smaller teams, and modifications to allow for the smaller field size. The newest of these, the FCF (Fan Controlled Football), has its championship tonight (March 20, 2021 at 8pm EDT/5pm PDT) on their FCF Twitch channel. It's a different game, in that the fans VOTE on which play to execute next via their app. It's more like a video game with live players than a traditional football game. It's 7 players per side, 50 yard field, no kicking, two 20 minute halves with a clock that runs almost continuously. Still, fun to watch and it's free.
As an American that appreciates the crazy stamina needed to play Rugby, I found myself just as overwhelmed with the rules of Rugby.
lol fair enough
it's technically a 60 minute game, but really they take about 3 hours to complete. There's lots of clock stoppage, and managing the clock is one of the most important parts of football strategy. It's different than endurance games like rugby, soccer, or basketball, in that instead of managing a pace you can keep up across 90 minutes, it's played in short bursts of all out power. This is why the hits can be so big. Lots of short sprints etc. Both are very physically demanding, just in different ways
It’s 8 seconds of absolute chaos and adrenaline to the max. You tie one hand to a 1600 pound muscle train and have to stay on for 8 seconds without touching him with your free arm then a whistle blows letting you know 8 seconds is up and to get off. If you don’t stay on for 8 seconds you get absolutely nothing it’s one of the only professional sports in the world that you don’t have contracts or get paid to just show up. If you don’t ride you get nothing.
You can only learn so much from these videos you have to pick a team you like and root for it through a season, watching all their games live if possible and then you'll learn nearly all there is to know.
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That makes sense
I think the endurance level on American football is very comparable to rugby because football players wear pads, also helmets can effect how u view the field and react to plays, strategy is key more than strategy in rugby
Lots of good information from the others commenting here. Let me add just a few points I didn't see mentioned: Yes, 60 minutes of playing time, but with the time the clock is stopped (incomplete passes stop the clock, for instance, where as running the football keeps the clock running) sitting down to watch a football game is a 3 hour event. Clock management is a big deal at the end of the game. A team in the lead near the end of the 4th quarter is likely to run the football a lot to keep eating time so the opponent won't have time to score if they get the ball again. Likewise, a team that is behind will frequently opt to pass the ball frequently near the end of the game so they can stop the clock if the pass is incomplete or if the receiver runs out of bounds with the ball.
It's rare to play on both offense and defense.. but a few people do.. But extremely rare.. look up Deon Sanders
This video is pretty funny imo, he explains the offense with a shot of a trips left shotgun formation and then illustrates it with an I-formation set. Also using footage of a Cowboys vs Jags game for all of it is just funny for some reason lol
Players don't get ejected by commiting multiple fouls but their team still gets punished by the yards they lose. However if a player does something stupid, like for example hitting a another player with their helmet, then they will be ejected.
React to Brett kollman, he breaks down film and plays and goes deep into what each player is supposed to do on a play
Remember Football is by design is a violent game, so certain things from other sports that less tolerable are way more tolerable in football
The point divergence of Football from what became Rugby (which happened sometime in the 1870s) was that Football permitted interference (or as we call it, blocking). This means that most players are engaged at all times while the ball is in play. There isn't really a quiet corner to take a blow mid game. If you watch enough games sometimes the defense will begin to wear down in the late game (too many consecutive plays) and the offense can grind out yardage on basic power plays (a good safe way to kill the game off).
Two-Platoon (offense/defense splits) came in with World War II (not enough players who could stick out a whole game). It stuck in the pros and eventually came back in college. Partially because it made the game more exciting (more offense, before that there was a lot of punting on early downs. A few players have done spot 2-way play with a few playing maybe 70% of the snaps in the last half century. Most of these have been wide receivers/defensive backs. Charles "Concrete Charlie" Bednarik played both ways on everything but kickoffs (Center and Linebacker) for the 1960 Eagles and that was a rare feat by then (he played offense that year for the first time in almost a decade because of injuries). But Bednarik was considered one of the all time "tough guys" (the nickname was only partially a reflection of the company he ran in the off-season, he once hit Frank Gifford so hard, he knocked him out of football for a year and there was fear he'd killed him).
Penalties can include ejection at the official's discretion (touch a zebra and you are GONE, throw a punch, GONE). The league deals with suspensions and fines after the game in question. Teams do NOT play short handed.
Rugby and football (and soccer and League and Canadian Rules) all developed (or better, evolved) from a common set of sets of rules. This is why a lot of rules and sometimes just terms carry over (scrimage/scrum, touchdown). The American sports had to pay their way from quite early, which is why they got downs (there was a noted college game where neither team tried to score and just held the ball all half), downs were in the next year. League was probably looking at downs when they instituted "tackles" (for similar reasons) a few decades on.
It should be noted that the clock stops regularly, and the 60 minute game generally lasts more like 3 hours
In the NFL each coach is given 2 challenges per game. Coaches may NOT challenge calls in the last 2 minutes of each half, they are instead initiated by the officials to prevent end of half/game gamesmanship. Unsuccessful challenges penalize the team 1 timeout(thus you cannon challenge a play if your team has 0 timeouts). If a Coach successfully challenges 2 plays in a game, they are given a third to use.
The NFL was conscious of your "challenge every play" strategy.
Players rarely get personally penalized for committing a penalty. Most of the time penalty’s result in the offense losing yards or the defense forfeiting yards depending on which team committed the penalty.
For example, if an offensive lineman holds a defensive player (grabbing onto their equipment instead of brute forcing them out of the way) then the play is nullified, the offense moves backwards 5 yards, and the down starts over.
One thing that does get a player thrown out of a game is Targeting. That’s when a player hits another player in the head. This rarely happens but that’s the harshest penalty you’ll really see. The player that got penalized has to leave the game and that players team just subs in a new player
Also for challenges from what I know you only have 2/game
There are actually 53 total players on n NFL team and if you can have 11 players on the field at a time, but the offense is 11, the defense is 11, special teams is 11, a place kicker and a punter, that is already 35 players. And there is usually only reserve player for each position (more for quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers who get hurt more often).
The offense is usually a lot more focused on achieving a new first down than scoring. The scoring becomes more and more possible as the ball's forward progress nears the end zone. The defense, as they lose ground to the offense, are more and more vulnerable to a greater variety of plays which can score.
Kicking for one extra point is much preferred over passing for two extra points because kicking for one extra point at such short range is nearly always successful. Passing for two extra points is only successful maybe 50% of the time as each of the receivers is double or triple covered as no long range passes need to be covered. When passing, there is also the risk the defense gains control of the ball and runs it back for considerable yards or even a touchdown.
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Football is about short intense burst of energy so that’s why they hit hard. Rugby is more like endurance sports. You can’t really say which one is harder. Both sports are physically and mentally taxing. American football players also needs to have good memories too. They are given 3-4 inch thick binder folders that has all the plays. They have to memorize it in a short period of time because the quarterback can call on any of these plays so you have to be ready. It’s given to them before the season starts and while training. Think of this sport like a combination of chess and collision sport. You should watch HBO’s Hard-knocks. It gives you a glimpse of what these players go through before the season even starts.
Players can be suspended, banned, and/or fined which could lead to tens of thousands of dollars. The ban can be for a few weeks while suspension leads to the rest of the year. They can practice but cannot play in a game. Sometimes players are traded to another team. If there is still an ongoing contract, the other team must pay for the remainder of the contract to the original team. NFL teams make a lot more money with merchandise. I carry a Pittsburgh Steelers lighter and have a Steelers jacket.
Most players play less than half the game. Only people like the quarterbacks are really needed for every single play on their side of the ball. A star reciever may be pulled out for goalline "package" where the biggest offensive players are ther to push the ball a yard or two into the enzone. A running back may make a big 50 yard run and then sit out the next play while his backup comes in. Every position usually has one or more backups. And some players are especially good at some things and come in only for plays that do that thing. (I.e. a tight end may be really good at catching or may be really good at blocking).
U can watch a game anytime just go to TH-cam and put in full football game there are even alot of full Superbowl games on here
A coach only gets 2 challenge flags a game and if the call is not reversed, the coach's team loses a Timeout.
Football players can be suspended or fined by the league depending on their penalty. It's not a penalty, but for example, throwing a NFL football into the stands for fans costs players $5,250. It's not a lot when you earn $2 million every year, but still.
You don't understand how much a team has to have endurance especially if one team is able to hold onto the ball for most of the game. As for penalties, it is normally against a certain player, and that player's number is called. If the penalty is bad enough the player can get thrown out of the game.
In the very early days of American football the player had to touch down the ball in the end zone. A holdover from it's Rugby roots.
The amount of skill required to do any one position ended up evolving football to have each position be specialized. Plus the time in btwn plays allows for teams to have very very in depth play books thar require each player to learn all types of plays and strategies suited for their position. But that doesn’t mean the players don’t experience exhaustion. The amount of effort put forth in one play is a lot. And there are often 10-15 play drives down the field to score. So there is a huge amount of conditioning needed…
There's 1st string (starting), 2nd string, 3rd string on positions. Obviously you want to start the game with your best players, but you may decide you want to save your best player for later in the game (3 hours later) so you take him out for a bit, and the backup goes in. And with all the injuries that happen, you must have a backup for each position (one way or another)
Not sure if this has been covered. Rugby and American football players need different types of endurance. Every play in football is a sprint or a heavy deadlift and sprint if you're a lineman. Im sure a rugby player would be better at running for distance, but football is just sprint after sprint. Both are difficult.
There are SO many more rules, and also, a game usually lasts 3 hours, as the clock stops on many things. If the player with the ball runs off the side of the field,, of if there is a penalty, of if there is an incomplete pass, or if there is a score, or a timeout - the clock stops and resumes on the next play starting. There CAN sometimes also be short stops of the clock while the ball is repositioned, but the clock restarts as soon as the referee completes the ball positioning.. The best way to learn the rules is to watch a game full recap with someone who knows the game. I'd be happy to do this with you.
You should react to nba best poster dunks
Yes there is a limit to coach challenges. A coach can only challenge a maximum of three plays per half, and that's only if all his challenges turn out to be ruled in his favor.
UKreacts:. As someone said college football and its rules are very similar to the NFL. Because of Covid 19 a second level of college football moved their games from last fall to this spring. So on the weekends you can find some live college football games on now. But be aware that some college teams run a different looking offense compared to what NFL teams run.
You had a question about Challenges and if players could get ejected (red carded as such) from the game. Yes, ever since Concussion Awareness has seeped into the game, any intentional hit when leading with the helmet can, and often does, result in a player getting ejected or disqualified from the game, and they have to leave the field. These rulings are somewhat controversial because a lot of the times it's just a matter of bad timing of how the hit goes down, so the officials have to thoroughly analyze the replays to determine intent.
Challenges...yes, there is a limit to how many times PER HALF that coaches can challenge a call on the field. And that number is 3. If the challenge is successful, the call is reversed and the play is reset or nullified. If the challenge is unsuccessful, meaning that after further review the challenge had no standing as such, the team issuing the challenge loses the chalkenge (obviously) but as also suffers a loss of Down if on Offense. So there's a penalty if the Offensive Team issues a Challenge and it is deemed to be a False Flag, so to speak. So yes, issuing Challenges are a bit risky. And not every kind of play can be reviewed or challenged. So if you really want to Challenge a call, you better he damn sure of your convictions. But what generally happens is, is there is a visible replay on the screens around the stadium after close, questionable plays that everybody can see, right? And so when any average joe can see that the Refs may have gotten a call wrong, the affected Team's coach will throw the Challenge flag. But like I said, they only have 3 challenge attempts per half...6 total throughout the game.
The way the game is played, it would be to hard on your body week in and week out for players to play both offense and defense. Technically they are allowed to play both positions, but it rarely happens.
Because of the physicality of Football, there is NO WAY anyone could be on the field for every play, on every game, every year. The average career span is already under 5 years......most guys body's breakdown before anything else.
Like you said in an earlier video, it looks like there is a car crash happening on every play".....which literally is what is happening. Each game has about 80-100 plays per team/per game......they also play 16 weeks and have 1 bye (off) week......some of the teams play twice in one week Sunday & Thursday
So 80 plays, 16 weeks, possibly playing 2 times in 5 days once a year.......there are very few (if any......EVER) who would be able to do what you're proposing in playing every play over a season.
Not sure if you're a video game fan, but playing the Madden franchise can help you acclimate yourself to the game a little more while you wait for the season to start.......You could also check out The NFL Network.....its 24/7 football, and although its the off-season, something is always happening. It could be a good way to familiarize yourself with some of the big names who are currently playing.
As always man, good stuff.
P.S. There should be a compilation of the best games, or some of the greatest moments (The Drive, The Catch, The Tuck Rule Game, etc) that you can watch that can/should help as well. A lot of those videos should be documentary style, where they explain whats happening and interview some of the players who participated.
Just wondering why you have not posted any videos for 9 months?
Players workouts focus on explosive power, change of direction and speed . Think of instant electric powered car vs a gas powered car . Indurance is important but 2nd to explosiveness, speed, agility or power .
Rugby definitely requires more overall strength/endurance teamwide. Put them up against an offensive lineman and they could easily out run them, but in the weight room, the big guys would make them look small. Same with a receiver as the rugby player could probably take and give a much bigger hit, but would he left behind in a race. The different teams mean they can specialize all the more which leads to more efficient skill players and...unfortunately stronger hitters.
Since Football season hasn’t started yet perhaps you can do reactions to longer videos like highlights of an actual game. They usually have these on TH-cam and the Super Bowl or championship game is typically 20 minutes of highlights. It might take longer to edit but will definitely help you get exposed to this game more before football season starts
60 minutes in football time is more like 2-2 1/2 hours real time. The clock stops with an incomplete pass or when the team runs out of bounds.
Team coaches are allowed three challenges per half. And since coaches know that they are limited to only three per half, then they use their challenges only on extremely important plays, and where they have a realistic expectation of successfully changing the ruling on the field. And if their challenge is not successful, then the challenging team loses one of it's three timeouts that is has per half. Coaches won't risk losing their timeouts, by making unnecessary challenges.
The NFL is so brutal that players simply can't play both offense and defense. The injuries would pile up and half the team would be out of action before too long. Every once in a while there are players who play on both sides of the ball, but it's very rare at the NFL or college football level.
The game goes on about 3.5 hours - not 60 mins. It all depends - you would have to watch a full game to see how this works. It is 4 -15 min quarters but they never are that short. It’s something you have to watch and see. They play for hours
IN NFL clock stops more, so the 60 to 80 ratio is not quite as accurate. For most of the time the clock is running, all players are going full speed, so it's really energy consuming. And you know, they wear a lot of gear, that's heavy.
In football they only play an hour but every time the ball is snapped everyone has to give it their all.
You won’t see anybody standing around everyone is blocking with full strength the opposing defense is coming at you with full strength.
So every time he get set for a new play everyone has to explode with full strength all over again.
Rugby you’re not starting every time with everyone at the same time exploding with all their strength.
Blocking, running down the field to get open making tackles always giving it 100%.
only 2 challenges per game. if the coach challenges 2 plays and is correct for both, he gets a 3rd and final challenge awarded to him. as for penalties, there are many that can be called that will either gain your team or lose you team some yards. Penalties for when a player is sent off is usually for committing 2 unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in a game. Like throwing punches at a player or possibly for some illegal tackles.
A lot of rules are different in college football and especially Canadian football. There are 130 college teams in the premier division. College football is more popular than the NFL in some regions.
Offense and defense on a team usually aren't always on equal rotation of field time
Especially if one side plays like crap like an offense thats constantly having a quick "3 and out" which means they can never progress the ball past the initial 10 yards and punt it away leaving the defense to stay on the field longer
There's times where for a whole quarter one unit stays on the field for a very long drive back from their 5yd line and gruadually have to get to their endzone
Also you gotta note in the NFL although not marathon runners they are expected to reach top speeds all game which burns you out while taking those hits especially for those who are in the range of running a 4.2 - 4.5 in the 40 yd dash and the play time is 60 minutes but because of the stop and start again between plays the clock time stops too so on average they're there for 4 hours playing. You'll also see in a game when a team is behind is that the offense runs a "Hurry Up Offense" where immedialy when a play is over they give no time for breaks and rush back to the line to run play after play to score as fast as possible
The wear and tear on their bodies on average unless you're some of the hall of famers and some veterans
Is so bad that a statistic said the average NFL player career span is 2-3 years
And thats just from playing strictly on offense or defense so imagine if they all universally played both sides
So I grew up playing football until I graduated high school, when I joined the military and was stationed overseas I picked up a local rugby league, While yes rugby players are on the field the whole game I found myself jogging and waiting to get involved 3/4 of the time and actually going 100% 1/4 of the time. In football you are going 100% every play. Playing at 100% every play was more taxing in my opinion than only playing 100% 1/4 of the time in rugby
You have to realize... because the NFL players are only playing Offense or Defense, they are going literally 100% every play. You will even sometime see guys on the sidelines with oxygen tanks trying to get their "strength" back.
The bigger guys inside are fighting 250-350lbs dudes for position, think of this as like... pushing your car in neutral as hard as you possibly can for 8 seconds... then take a 30 second break, repeat till possession changes.
Receivers and defensive back are sprinting at 100% for 20-60yds every single play, rest 30 seconds and then do it again... while cutting, sometimes having to fight dudes 170-250lbs on blocks, or even having to get through the 350lbs linemen.
You also have to realize that the 60 minute timer for a game stops... A LOT... if a pass is dropped clock stops(this also allows quarterbacks to "spike" the ball(throw it into the ground) to sacrifice a play in order to stop the clock), if someone goes out of bounds, if a timeout is called, etc... sometimes the last "two minutes" of a game can last a full half an hour because the clock is only running for the 3-8 seconds it takes to run the play then it stops, .. An NFL game usually lasts around 4 hours total.
Even if you consider that a American Football player is playing half of the game, try doing balls out wind sprints for 30 minutes mixed in with a bunch of aggression and a car crash equivalent collision occurring every couple of downs, it really takes a toll. The two greatest lessons they teach you is the harder you hit the less likely you will get hurt, deliver the blow. Also, tackle through the runner so you force them backwards and stop their forward progress. I played linebacker in high school and trying to gather your senses after a big hit and being ready for the next play was harder than catching my breath. Playing on the offensive or defensive line in the trenches, where the big boys play, there is a massive collision of huge guys every single play. That just wears on you throughout the game. If ones team offense is successful and constantly on the field the opposing teams defense will just wear down over time. If an offense sees your out of breath they will just keep going after you, and one mistake by a defensive back or linebacker and you give up a touchdown.
11:14 Flagrant fouls by players will get them ejected from the game. It's up to the game official, Refs, as to what that is. 'Targeting' leading with your helmet against the opponent is the reason most players are ejected now.
I think to help with this, he may want to watch some examples of ejections. Greatest NFL Ejections could be a great start as the commentators are speaking as well.
When it's a close game/teams evenly matched, the starting players will be there throughout the game unless injured. It's important for the offense to keep possession of the ball, because the defensive players will usually tire out first and so really need those extra minutes to get their breath back...this won't happen if their team's offense goes "three and out" (three plays that fail to move the ball ten yards, so the ball has to be turned back over to the opposing team).
Kicking for one extra point is almost a given; it's very rare for the kicker to miss or the ball blocked. Trying for a two-point conversion is a much less than fifty-fifty proposition, so it is normally attempted only if (a) there's no other good option because of a losing score and little time left, or (b) if it fails, it wouldn't be disastrous for the team.
Players are ejected (termed "disqualified") by the referees mainly for two reasons: (1) flagrant personal fouls like stomping on a player or ripping a opponent's helmet off, or (2) egregious unsportsmanlike conduct like hurling your own helmet while on the field or deliberately making contact with an official. Depending on the severity of the offense, at the least there's a hefty monetary fine, and sometimes suspension for one or more games.