NFL Terminology: Offense

One of my real passions in life is American Football, and as I'm sure you've all noticed, I'm trying to force it on a somewhat reluctant British audience. As such, I'm going to try and make things easier for everyone by explaining all the positions and phrases that I've used and will be using. This article will focus on everything on the offensive side of the ball, as well as the general setup of the NFL, and the teams in it.

General Setup:

The National Football League is made up of 32 teams. Those 32 teams are split into two conferences of 16, and each conference contains 4 divisions of 4 teams. So to summarise; Division<Conference<League. 

NFL -> AFC/NFC (Conference) -> North/South/East/West (Division)

Each team plays 16 games. These games consist of home and away games against the other 3 teams in the same division, games against all 4 teams from one division in each conference, as well as playing the two teams in the same conference who finished in the same place in their division the previous season.

As an example, let's look at the Ravens: They will play the AFC North (their own division), the AFC South and NFC South, as well as the Chargers and Dolphins (3rd place in the AFC West and East respectively).

Points go to anyone who knows whose hand this is...

At the end of those 16 games, played over 17 weeks (every team gets a "bye week", which is essentially a week off), the playoffs are decided. Each conference is represented by 6 teams in the playoffs. These teams play in a knockout-style competition to decide the two participants of the Superbowl. In essence, the Superbowl is the winner of the NFC against the winner of the AFC.

Everyone still with me? Still awake?

Right, let's get into the real stuff. You may need to read this in a couple of sittings, I realise, but I'm on a roll right now.

Offensive Terminology

This is the bit where I tell you what everything means, not the bit where I write down swear words and explain them. That's not big, and it's not clever, as my mum would say.

He's worth $120m. Yes, really.

Quarterback/QB: The main man. The guy who throws the ball, and generally decides what goes on. It's his job to work out what the defense is doing and counter it in a way that will most benefit his team, before making sure everyone executes properly. Generally speaking, they're the best paid players on the team, earning on average about $4m per year. Although if you're really good, your team could hook you up with $20m+ per year over 5 or 6 years...

It may not look it, but he's off to the races!

Running Back/RB: These guys are pure muscle, more or less. Their job is to take the ball from the QB and run. That's their job in Layman's terms. A more in-depth analysis of their career reveals that these guys take an absolute pounding every Sunday. Star RB's will generally carry the ball 20-25 times a game, and get absolutely drilled by a 300lb defensive player more often than not. They're aided by their Offensive Line, which we will come to in a minute. If they can find a hole to run through, though, you'd better get your skates on. These boys have got wheels.

As I said, crazy athletes.

Wide Receiver/WR: A QB's best friend, wide receivers are the glory boys of the NFL. They're the ones you see running 50 yards without the ball, having it drop over their shoulder into their waiting hands, and then celebrate like they're the ones doing all the hard graft. But seriously, these guys are insanely talented athletes. Wide receivers are normally on the field in groups of between 2 and 4, offering the QB different options to throw to.

The majority have hands larger than your average dinner plate, and can run the 100m in about 11 seconds. Not only that, but some of them run across the middle of the field to receive passes and get poleaxed by men about twice their size, before getting up and brushing it off like it was nothing. Suarez has a lot to learn, go grab him some pads!

Look at the size of him!

Tight End/TE: These guys are part wide receiver, part offensive lineman, but they're 100% massive, and usually the missing link between us and apes. Tight ends come in different packages. Some catch more than others. Some block quite a lot. Some do both quite well. Others don't really do much at all. Increasingly in the NFL, they're used to catch passes because they are absolute physical freaks. They're not much slower than WRs, but they carry about 40-70 extra pounds. Capable of making insane catches and taking monster hits, these guys are a force to be reckoned with, and it takes quite a lot to stop them. Blocking tight ends are used to open up more holes for the RB to run through, and they can typically make their way downfield to make another block if nobody gets to the running back. In short, don't mess with them.

I'm sure they're lovely, but LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THEM!

Offensive Linemen/OL: These guys are behemoths. Like, genuine monsters. Their entire job is to stop people touching the QB, and push people in various directions so that the RB can run by them and score multiple touchdowns. There are 5 positions on the offensive line, Left Tackle (LT), Left Guard (LG), Center (C), Right Guard (RG), and Right Tackle (RT). Inventive, I know. Tackles need to be nimble on their feet for men who weigh over 300lbs, because they need to stop all the fast guys on the defense hitting the QB or RB. Left tackle is often considered the most important position on a team because he protects the side that right-handed QBs can't see, thus protecting his "Blind Side" (like the film, but Michael Oher was actually a RT, and not a very good one at that). Centers and guards stop the defenses big boys coming up the middle, and as a result are normally slightly stouter, but stronger than their tackle counterparts. The center is also responsible for giving the ball to the QB to start the play. It all looks very confusing on the O-Line once the ball has been "snapped", but theres a method to the madness, I promise. I'll explain all that another time, though, cos most of my essays aren't even this long...

Anyway, hope this has cleared up a few things about the NFL and how it works, as well as who is on offense. Next time (Hopefully tomorrow) I'll do the defense, and maybe Special Teams as well. And no, Special Teams isn't what you're thinking. Get your mind out of the gutter.