Early days of professional football saw slow, low-scoring matches officiated by undertrained and inadequate crews; outdated rules were often in force too.
Hugh Ray was an NFL Hall-of-Famer consultant who crunched numbers and suggested rule changes that made games more entertaining and faster-paced. Additionally, he created an officiating “situation book” as well as other tools that helped officials gain a deeper understanding of football games.
Rules
The game shall take place on a rectangular field measuring 360 feet by 160 feet, known as the Field of Play. Areas bound by endlines and sidelines are known as End Zones while 10 yards from either endline marks the Goal Line.
The field is enclosed by a solid white border, while a broken limit line 6 feet beyond both end and side lines delineates its bench area. Within this bench area lies a yellow line that demarcates a special zone behind which all players except one player charting the game must remain.
Flagrant fouls are defined as those which, in the opinion of an official, are excessively violent or dangerous and could potentially inflict injury upon an opponent.
Scoring
American football is a team sport in which players work to advance the ball downfield and score points by either crossing into an opponent’s end zone for a touchdown, or by kicking through upright posts for field goals. The team with the most points wins.
Each team is given four chances to advance the ball 10 yards or further during each down. If a team fails to reach the goalline within that allotted time, possession reverts back to defense who are then granted another series of downs.
The line judge, located near the head linesman, oversees player substitutions and punt line of scrimmage during punts. They also monitor first down measurements, as well as alert the referee when time expires at quarter ends.
Punts
Punting is an intentional attempt by the kicking team to alter field position, usually on 4th down and long situations when neither field goals nor kickoff returns are an option. Punts usually happen on fourth down when teams are too close or far from scoring an easy field goal or return kick.
A great punter can often make up for his mistakes by altering the field position with directional punts. Ideally, kick backwards so the ball will take different paths after landing and take an unpredictable path back towards you.
Ray Guy became the first pure punter honored with induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is widely credited with raising their standing within football. Alongside placekicker Jan Stenerud, they formed one of history’s premier kicking tandems.
Kickoffs
Kickoffs in NFL Football have for years taken on a similar form; ball is placed on tee, percussive sound fills stadium and special teams coaches attempt to provide multiple levels of coverage.
This year is different, though. In order to increase safety and minimize full-speed collisions that often accompany kickoffs, NFL owners have overhauled the play in an attempt to increase safety and reduce full-speed collisions. They’ve moved the onside kick back to 30 yard line while marking touchbacks at 20 yard line and eliminating fair catches altogether. Furthermore, both sides can only move when either the ball hits the ground or returner enters landing zone; this should limit hang time while making kickoff more like regular running play
Tackles
NFL games regularly see at least one bone-jarring tackle, often leading to broken legs and dislocated knees. As such, these types of injuries have led the league to place strong restrictions on “hip drops”, wherein defenders unweight themselves by shifting their hips backwards and dropping onto ball carrier legs without first clearing their body of weight first.
League executives believe this technique inflicts injury at 25 times the rate of an average tackle and it should be eliminated. The NFLPA takes an alternative view and many players have come out against this ban; one such player was retired three-time defensive player of the year JJ Watt, who compared the move to flag football on social media. All contact is illegal within the pocket area – which covers from outside edges of normal tackle positions both sides of center to the line of scrimmage -.