By Coach Martin | Football Basics
During a football game, you may hear announcers say a referee has thrown a flag.
If you’re new to the game, this may seem foreign and confusing to you, since you almost definitely didn’t see someone on the field throw a big flag during the play.
The flag in football refers to a penalty flag that a referee throws to the ground to signify that a team committed a penalty.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
There are a number of different terms used in football to signify areas of the field.
You may have heard some of these terms such as the “Slot,” the “Pocket” or the “Box.”
The latter term is often used in conjunction with describing how the defense lines up on a particular play.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
No matter what position you play in football, you’ll need to set up in a specific stance before each play starts.
This stance, or way that you position your body, will help you get started off on the right foot when the play begins.
There are three main stances used in football — used by different players in different situations, as they allow the player to start the play off in the best position as possible.
Understanding these stances and what their strengths are is important so you know when to use them during a game.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
When football teams are desperate late in games, chances are you might see players continue to throw the ball around the field in hopes of scoring a miracle touchdown.
Some of the most famous moments in football history played out this way, including the Miracle in Miami as well as the Music City Miracle.
Teams do these laterals in a legal manner downfield, as a way to transfer the ball from one play to another when they’re beyond the line of scrimmage.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
In football, one of the main tasks of defenders is to get by blockers and disrupt their opponent’s backfield.
Defenders make use of many different techniques to either overpower or trick blockers before rushing to the opposing quarterback in hopes of disrupting him or recording a sack.
How often defenders use these pass rush techniques vary from player to player, with defensive linemen utilizing them the most — on just about every play.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
All successful offenses in football have one thing in common.
No matter the base formation, offensive philosophy, or game plan, they should be able to successfully protect the quarterback on a consistent basis.
Quarterback is often considered the most important position in all of football — mainly because no other one player on either side of the ball has so much responsibility.
A large part of their success, though, depends on how well the other offensive players are able to protect him.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
Before each game of football officially starts, officials (together with players from both sides) conduct a coin toss to determine which team gets the ball first.
The referee on the field brings the captains of each team to the center of the field for the coin toss.
The lead captain on the away team will call either heads or tails, and then the referee will flip the coin into the air.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
If you’ve watched a game of football on TV, you probably heard a quarterback utter the phrase “Blue 80” multiple times.
They do this when the offense lines up at the line of scrimmage, after they break out of the huddle, and before the center snaps the ball.
This is all part of what’s known as the quarterback’s cadence.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
Inside zone blocking is perhaps the most commonly-used blocking scheme in all of football today.
There’s a very simple reason for that — it works.
That’s obviously a very simplistic explanation of why the inside zone blocking scheme is so popular.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
In football, there are many different penalties referees can call on any given play.
Once each play is over — or when a referee blows a whistle to stop a play — the referee will gather with the other officials to get the penalty call.
Then, the referee will march toward the scoring booth and call out the penalty, and what happens as a result.
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