Jerrett Holloway - Football a Beginners Guide: Learn the Basics to Watch and Enjoy the Game

Copyright 2022 by Rockridge Press

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First Rockridge Press trade paperback edition May, 2022

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Paperback ISBN: 978-1-63807-678-0
eBook ISBN: 978-1-63878-508-8

Manufactured in the United States of America

Interior and Designer: Angela Navarra
Art Producer: Melissa Malinowsky
Editors: Rebecca Markley and Rachelle Cihonski
Production Editor: Matthew Burnett
Production Manager: Jose Olivera

Illustrations 2022 Pelin Kahraman, pp..

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To my nieces and nephew. Always follow your dreams and never give up.
Jerrett

I dedicate this book to my mother, Loreda (may she rest in peace), and father, Ralph. Thank you both for allowing me to find my own voice and take my own path; I hope all your hard work has finally paid off.
Rafael

CONTENTS

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? We are Jerrett and Rafael, and we are always ready for some football. We hope you are ready too and are really glad that youve chosen this book to help you out. We are two football enthusiasts that will be guiding you through this book and Americas game. We both love football and have spent years in front of our televisions watching, learning, and studying the game, including singing along with Hank Williams famous opening song for decades of Monday Night Football (its definitely worth looking up).

As avid football nerds who have played the game and have cheered for the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Jets for our lifetimes, we want to share everything we know to turn you into a football fan and, at a minimum, help you if you just want to learn more about football. Believe me, we know how confusing football can seem at first. We remember when first watching as a kid, we thought it was nothing but players tackling each other and yelling at the referee. Eventually, we learned there is so much more that goes into the game and it isnt hard to learn at all.

With this book you will learn the history of football, the objective of football, how football is played, and the amazing players the game has seen throughout the years. There is so much to share, and were certain youll become a true fan by the end (pick your favorite team carefully)! Once youre done with this book, you can go out and impress all your football-watching friends with your newfound knowledge. Truthfully, you may even end up teaching them a thing or two.

Assuming you wont read the whole book in the course of two days, weve provided a ) and may hear while watching a game.

But enough of us getting you excited to read this bookdive in and see for yourself.

THE BASICS

A football game is made of two halves, each with two 15-minute quarters. Each team can call up to three timeouts per half, and each half has an automatic timeout at the two-minute mark before the end of the half, dubbed the two-minute warning .

THE COIN TOSS: A referee holds a coin toss and the team that wins can choose to receive the ball (meaning they are on offense and have the first chance to score) or defer and instead receive the ball first in the second half, thus giving the ball to the other team first to start the game.

THE KICKOFF: The kicker of the team not receiving the ball first kicks the ball downfield from the kickoff line. The receivers of the offensive special teams are downfield, hoping to catch the ball and run it as far as possible toward the end zone at the other end of the field. They can also signal a fair catch , which allows them to catch the ball without a chance of being tackled, but they cannot run to gain more yards if they choose this option. If the ball is kicked into or behind the end zone, the ball is automatically placed at the 25-yard line. While uncommon, if the kicker kicks the football out of bounds on either side of the field, the offense chooses between getting the ball where it went out of bounds or at the 40-yard line.

OFFENSIVE PLAY: The offense will have four downs , or chances, to gain 10 yards from the initial line of scrimmage (the starting point for each new set of downs) by throwing or running the football. For example, if a team runs the ball on first down and gains two yards from the line of scrimmage, they must now make an additional eight yards on their next three tries. (The next play would be referred to by the commentators as a second and eight, as in, its now second down and the team needs eight more yards before it gets a new set of downs.) The line of scrimmage moves to the spot where the previous play ended.

If they make 1 0 yards or more, they get a new set of four downs and the current line of scrimmage is used as the starting point for the next 10-yard requirement for a first down. This repeats until the of fense scores or doesnt get at least 1 0 yards in its four downs, or until they reach the e nd zone.

Most times, if a team has not made 10 yards after the third down, on fourth down they will attempt a field goal if within field goal range, or punt the ball so that the other team starts their offensive play farther downfield.

Occasionally, a team may decide to spend their fourth down attempting to make the 10 yards. If they are unsuccessful, the other team takes over the ball wherever it is on the field.

If the offense scores either a touchdown or a field goal, the scoring teams kicker will then kickoff to the opposing teams receivers so that their teams offense can take over and try to score.

SCORING: A team can score by making a touchdown for six points (with the option to kick for an extra point or run a play on the field for a two-point conversion ) or a field goal for three points.

DEFENSIVE PLAY: While the offense is trying to score, the defense is trying to prevent them from scoring by keeping them from gaining yards. It can do this in any number of ways, including sacking ( tackling ) the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage, blocking , preventing catches, and tackling running backs or receivers before they gain yards.

While trying to stop the offense from gaining yards, the defense can also work to get the ball back for its team by forcing a fumble (dropped ball) and recovering the ball, or by an interception (when a defensive player catches the ball thrown by the opposing quarterback). This is called a turnover . In both cases, the defense on the field will have the opportunity to run toward its end zone and potentially score.