Football is in the air, and with the demographic expanding thanks to Taylor Swift and Nickelodeon’s alternate broadcasts, it is shedding the stereotype of being a sport only for jocks.
With the number of new fans growing each year, the biggest challenge is understanding how football works in the first place.
Football is one of the best ways to socialize during the fall, and for the new fans of the sport, I will make sure you understand what’s happening on the TV. After reading this, the only thing you’ll need to worry about is keeping buffalo sauce off your shirt.
The Basics
This is a guide about watching football, so I won’t dive deep into things like strategies and formations, but it’s still important to understand the basic rules.
Football is split into four 15-minute quarters with a 15-minute break during halftime. Keep that in mind and plan drink refills and bathroom runs accordingly.
A team is divided into offense and defense, with only one of them occupying the field at a time.
In a podcast, Taylor Swift said she thought opposing quarterbacks played on the field at the same time. This is a common misconception for new fans, but when a broadcast mentions a quarterback showdown, it refers to a statistical comparison of each quarterback.
The field is 100 yards long with 10-yard end zones. When an offense has the ball, it has three attempts to gain 10 yards or more. These attempts are called downs. This will reset the number of attempts it has to gain another 10 yards, which continues until the team reaches the endzone.
If the offense cannot gain 10 yards after three attempts, it will have a choice: go for a fourth attempt to gain the 10 yards or punt.
A punt is a dropkick that sends the ball far down the field. It is important to the game because it forces the other offense to go a longer way to score.
Speaking of scoring, reaching the end zone results in a touchdown worth six points. After a touchdown, the team can either kick the ball through the goalposts for one extra point or run a single play where it tries to reach the end zone for an extra 2 points.
If a team is close enough to the goalposts but can’t reach the end zone, it can kick a field goal for three points instead of punting.
While most points are scored on offense, this does not mean you can’t enjoy watching defense.
If a quarterback throws the ball to an opposing player on defense, it’s called an interception. If the ball falls out of a player’s hands while running, it’s called a fumble.
Now that we know how the game works, what the heck is going on with the screen?
Reading the Scoreboard
The scoreboard may look like a jumble of numbers, but it’s essential for understanding what’s happening on the field.
The basics, like the team names and the score, are simple enough to follow. It’s the down and distance that can give new fans problems. The down and distance refer to the attempt number the offense is on, and the yards needed to reset its attempts and keep moving forward.
For example, if the scoreboard reads “2nd and 7,” this means that the team is on its second down and needs seven more yards to reset the count.
Another key element of the scoreboard is the timeouts. Usually located under the team names or logos and represented by dots or dashes.
Each team gets three timeouts per half, which are used to stop the clock for a brief moment. On the scoreboard, the dashes or dots will be darkened to represent the timeout being used.
One final detail of the scoreboard is a symbol to determine which offense has the ball. This detail is subtle, but it’s usually something like a small triangle pointing to a team to indicate that it has possession.
The Lines on the TV
While watching, you may notice two lines on the screen. Don’t worry—your screen isn’t broken. Those two lines are crucial for following along with the game.
The blue line marks the line of scrimmage, and it serves as the starting point for the offense.
Every player on the offense must line up behind that blue line, and no defensive player is allowed to cross it before the play starts.
The yellow line is usually called the first down marker, and it shows the distance the offense must reach to reset the downs. This line is especially useful when a player is close to reaching the first down marker, as it is a visual for the fans to assess if the offense made it across or not.
Now we know the rules and understand what is going on with the screen, but as new fans, how do we fit in with everyone else watching the game?
How to look like a Football Expert While Watching
While football is a complex sport that can go deep in terms of strategy, you don’t need to know any of that to act like you know what you’re talking about. Just use these phrases to look like a lifelong fan!
Big Third Down Here
Use this phrase every time you see the scoreboard counter show a third down. Regardless of how early or late this happens in a game, saying this will result in the entire room nodding in agreement.
Yelling out the play
This phrase serves as a vocabulary test of the jargon covered earlier. When you see an interception or a fumble in real time, yelling out “fumble!” or “interception!” will make you look like an expert. To really sell the effect, you need to sit up or even stand as it happens.
Hate the ref
This is a universal sentiment, as no matter which team you support, one thing football fans can agree on is that they dislike the referees. An important thing to note is that when a foul occurs during the game, referees will throw a yellow-colored beanbag called a flag.
This will also be indicated on the scoreboard. You don’t need to know the violations in football to do this, but when you see a flag, you need to insult the referee and act like they are out to get your team—regardless of how obvious or subtle the violation was.
Reminisce
This is for when the game is a little dry or everyone is on their phones. In this situation, look up players from 10 years ago on your phone and say that you miss how good they were.
Once you do this, you don’t have to say anything else—the rest of the room will start talking for you about their favorite players from a decade ago. I will provide Odell Beckham Jr. and Cam Newton as two players you can name to spark conversation.
Now, not only do you understand the basics of football, but you are fully equipped with the tools to look like a lifelong fan. These tips should help you stay afloat as you learn the actual details and jargon of the game.
Football is a great way to socialize over the fall, so having the knowledge to watch and talk about it will change the way you live life during the season. Cheers to football being back!