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 Rules & Penalties
Flag football is becoming an increasingly popular version of the sport, especially at the youth level.
For one, it doesn’t have any of the hard-hitting regular football does, which helps protect younger bodies from the wear and tear of the game.
This is especially important for younger kids, as their bodies are not fully grown and developed yet, and their growth could seriously suffer from major injuries too early on in life.
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By Coach Martin | Football Rules & Penalties
Every play on offense is one of two things — either a run or a pass.
After the snap, the quarterback usually does one of two things: either hand the ball off (or toss it) to the running back for a run upfield, or pass it forward to one of their receivers.
With majority of teams preferring to run the ball back in the day, the forward pass was a revolutionary change in football more than 100 years ago.
Teams use these plays to advance the ball quickly downfield, taking advantage of various size/speed mismatches that wide receivers, tight ends and even running backs have over their defenders.
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By Coach Martin | Football Rules & Penalties
Every NFL game is split into four quarters of 15 minutes each.
The first and the second quarter make up the first half, while the third and fourth make up the second half.
When the game clock ticks to zero at the end of the fourth quarter, the team with more points on the scoreboard is the winner.
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By Coach Martin | Football Rules & Penalties
Football offenses back in the day focused primarily on running the ball, employing bigger players who could physically overpower their defensive counterparts.
As players began to develop new skills and training practices, however, coaches began to open up the game and incorporate more passing plays into the scheme.
Over the years, offensive coaches have constantly innovated to try to stay one step ahead of defenses — and to take advantage of speedier, stronger players at just about every position.
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By Coach Martin | Football Rules & Penalties
In the game of football, there are is a running clock that ticks down as the plays go on.
However, there are pre-determined times when the clock will actually stop.
Understanding when these times occur is important, as offenses can actually use it to give them more time to huddle up and get set for a new play.
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By Coach Martin | Football Rules & Penalties
If you’re new to the game of American football, it can seem quite complicated.
Because it’s such a fast-moving game with a lot of players all over the field, it can be confusing to those who don’t know what’s going on.
At its core, though, American football is a quite simple game.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
The tackle box in football is a term that you’ll hear referenced many times throughout a game.
In most cases, it comes up in conversation when an offense is attempting a pass.
While the tackle box isn’t a set area outlined on the field, it does have a very distinct definition.
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By Coach Martin | Football Rules & Penalties
There are a number of ways a turnover can happen in football.
These occur when the defense is able to gain possession of the football while the ball is still live.
Turnovers are always really big in football, no matter how, when, or where they occur on the field.
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By Coach Martin | Football Rules & Penalties
The level of competition at the highest levels of football is often fairly equal.
Even in NFL games that pit a heavy favorite against a big underdog, the games typically aren’t extremely lopsided.
When you get to some lower levels, though, the talent difference from one team to the next can be quite significant.
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