Who is going to win? Who is going to score first? Is the score going to be under or over 54?

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i think Ne will score 1st, and that they wont win my 13, so i bet more on that, but also threw a little on the otehr side just incase. theover under, to be honest, i like 54, so i left it alone

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No chance the Pats cover the spread...................Again.

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I gotta go with the Home team so I bet 1k boobie bucks on the Giants.

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If you meant home team as in your area, ok. But the Giants are technically the visiting team in Arizona.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by kolpaz If you meant home team as in your area, ok. But the Giants are technically the visiting team in Arizona.

Technically New England and New York are the visiting teams lol.

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"Yippie-kay-yay, motherfucker!!"-John McClane. I am the Official Nikki's Forum contest creator. Nikki and Madden Fan 4 LIFE
"If I'm dead how can I still ask you a question Srg?"-Tigerland
"Life insurance pays off triple if you die on a business trip."-Narrator
"Carbon fiber... 28 Caliber, made in China. If you want to kill a public servant Mr. Maroni, I recommend you buy American. "-Harvey Dent
"They should be paying us for all the publicity we've given them," "Everyone will want one now."-Ryan Dempster talking about his and Carlos Zambrano's attack of the Gatorade machine during there home stance against the Pirates 5/27/09
kay rexxx: fuck you. Matt450: I didn't know you loved me so much
Roxy: lol dork Matt450: I try at times
Nikki's Playmates-Go join if you aren't a member yet. Meet Madden-You need to check her out.
Bella XoXo-Go check her out now! Brittany Avalon-the newest model

technically yes, but the home team is the pats for purpose of locker room assignment, and who calls the coin toss.

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I love Karma, and will return the favor!

I've stuck all 321 of my 'boobie bucks' on New England.

I have no clue how gridiron works. To me it looks like two teams of 1,000 players standing in two lines then smashing each other up on the shout of "31-36-72 HUP HUP HUP".

Brilliant game to watch though. Fantastic game to play, too, even when you have no idea what you're supposed to be doing. I played as a wide receiver for my uni and was basically told "Just run towards their end of the pitch and try to catch the ball if it comes your way".

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Field and players

The numbers on the field indicate the number of yards to the nearest end zone.American football is played on a field 360 feet (120 yards/109.7 m) long by 160 feet (53.3 yards/48.8 m) wide. The longer boundary lines are sidelines, while the shorter boundary lines are end lines. Near each end of the field is a goal line; they are 100 yards (91.4 m) apart. A scoring area called an end zone extends 10 yards (9.1 m) beyond each goal line to each end line.

Yard lines cross the field every 5 yards (4.6 m), and are numbered from each goal line to the 50-yard line, or midfield (similar to a typical rugby league field). Two rows of lines, known as inbounds lines or hash marks, parallel the sidelines near the middle of the field. All plays start with the ball on or between the hash marks.

At the back of each end zone are two goalposts (also called uprights) that are 18.5 feet (5.6 m) apart (24 feet (7.3 m) in high school). The posts are connected by a crossbar 10 feet (305 cm) from the ground.

Each team has 11 players on the field at a time. However, teams may substitute for any or all of their players, if time allows, during the break between plays. As a result, players have very specialized roles, and, sometimes (although rarely) almost all of the (at least) 46 active players on an NFL team will play in any given game. Thus, teams are divided into three separate units: the offense, the defense and the special teams.


[edit] Start of halves
Similar to association football, the game begins with a coin toss to determine who will kick off to begin the games and which goal each team will defend. The options will be presented again to start the second half; the choices for the first half do not automatically determine the start of the second half. The referee will conduct the coin toss with the captains (or sometimes coaches) of the opposing teams. The team that wins the coin toss has three options:

They may choose to either receive the opening kickoff or (rarely) to kick off
They may choose which goal to defend
They may choose to defer the first choice to the other team and have first choice to start the second half (except in the NFL)[4]
Whatever the first team chooses, the second team has the option on the other choice (for example, if the first team elects to receive at the start of the game, the second team can decide which goal to defend).

At the start of the second half, the options to kick, receive, or choose a goal to defend are presented to the captains again. The team which did not choose first to start the first half (or which deferred its privilege to choose first) now gets first choice of options.[5]


[edit] Game duration
A standard football game consists of four 15-minute (typically 12 minutes in high-school football) quarters, with a half-time intermission after the second quarter. The clock stops after certain plays; therefore, a game can last considerably longer (often more than three hours in real time), and if a game is broadcast on television, TV timeouts are taken at certain intervals of the game to broadcast commercials outside of game action. If an NFL game is tied after four quarters, the teams play an additional period lasting up to 15 minutes. In an NFL overtime game, the first team that scores wins, even if the other team does not get a possession; this is referred to as sudden death. In a regular-season NFL game, if neither team scores in overtime, the game is a tie. In an NFL playoff game, additional overtime periods are played, as needed, to determine a winner. College overtime rules are more complicated and are described in Overtime (sport).


[edit] Advancing the ball

A line of scrimmage.
A quarterback searching for opportunity to throw a pass.
A running back being tackled when he tries to run with the ball.Advancing the ball in American football resembles the six-tackle rule and the play-the-ball in rugby league. The team that takes possession of the ball (the offense) has four attempts, called downs, to advance the ball 10 yards (9.1 m) towards their opponent's (the defense's) end zone. When the offense gains 10 yards, it gets a first down, which means the team has another set of four downs to gain yet another 10 yards or score with. If the offense fails to gain a first down (10 yards) after 4 downs, the other team gets possession of the ball at the spot of the football, beginning with their first down.

Except at the beginning of halves and after scores, the ball is always put into play by a snap. Offensive players line up facing defensive players at the line of scrimmage (the position on the field where the play begins). One offensive player, the center, then passes (or "snaps") the ball between his legs to a teammate, usually the quarterback.

Players can then advance the ball in two ways:

By running with the ball, also known as rushing. One ball-carrier can hand the ball to another player or throw backwards to another player. These are known as a handoff and a backward pass (sometimes referred to as a lateral) respectively.
By throwing the ball to a teammate, known as a forward pass or as passing the football. The forward pass is a key factor distinguishing American and Canadian football from other football sports. The offense can throw the ball forward only once during a down and only from behind the line of scrimmage. The ball can be thrown, pitched, handed-off, or tossed sideways or backwards at any time.
A down ends, and the ball becomes dead, after any of the following:

The player with the ball is forced to the ground (tackled) or has his forward progress halted by members of the other team (as determined by an official).
A forward pass flies beyond the dimensions of the field (out of bounds) or touches the ground before it is caught. This is known as an incomplete pass. The ball is returned to the most recent line of scrimmage for the next down.
The ball or the player with the ball goes out of bounds.
A team scores.
Officials blow a whistle to notify players that the down is over.

Before each down, each team chooses a play, or coordinated movements and actions, that the players should follow on a down. Sometimes, downs themselves are referred to as "plays."


[edit] Change of possession
The offense maintains possession of the ball unless one of the following things occurs:

The team fails to get a first down— i.e., in four downs they fail to move the ball past a line 10 yards ahead of where they got their last first down (it is possible to be downed behind the current line of scrimmage, "losing yardage"). The defensive team takes over the ball at the spot where the 4th-down play ends. A change of possession in this manner is commonly called a turnover on downs, but is not credited as a defensive "turnover" in official statistics. Instead, it goes against the offense's 4th down efficiency percentage.
The offense scores a touchdown or field goal. The team that scored then kicks the ball to the other team in a special play called a kickoff.
The offense punts the ball to the defense. A punt is a kick in which a player drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground. Punts are nearly always made on fourth down (though see quick kick), when the offensive team does not want to risk giving up the ball to the other team at its current spot on the field (through a failed attempt to make a first down) and feels it is too far from the other team's goal posts to attempt a field goal.
A defensive player catches a forward pass. This is called an interception, and the player who makes the interception can run with the ball until he is tackled, forced out of bounds, or scores.
An offensive player drops the ball (a fumble) and a defensive player picks it up. As with interceptions, a player recovering a fumble can run with the ball until tackled or forced out of bounds. Backward passes that are not caught do not cause the down to end like incomplete forward passes do; instead the ball is still live as if it had been fumbled. Lost fumbles and interceptions are together known as turnovers
The offensive team misses a field goal attempt. The defensive team gets the ball at the spot where the previous play began (or, in the NFL, at the spot of the kick). If the unsuccessful kick was attempted from within 20 yards (18.3 m) of the end zone, the other team gets the ball at its own 20 yard line (that is, 20 yards from the end zone). If a field goal is missed and the ball remains in the field of play, a defensive player may also catch the ball and attempt to advance it.
In his own end zone, an offensive ballcarrier is tackled, forced out of bounds or loses the ball out of bounds, or the offense commits certain penalties. This fairly rare occurrence is called a safety.
An offensive ballcarrier fumbles the ball forward into the end zone, and then the ball goes out of bounds. This extremely rare occurrence leads to a touchback, with the ball going over to the opposing team at their 20 yard line. (Note that touchbacks during non-offensive special teams plays, such as punts and kickoffs, are quite common.)

[edit] Scoring

A kicker attempts an extra point.A team scores points by the following plays:

A touchdown (TD) is worth 6 points. It is scored when a player runs the ball into or catches a pass in his opponent's end zone. A touchdown is analogous to a try in rugby with the major difference being that a try requires the player to place the ball on the ground.
After a touchdown, the scoring team attempts a conversion (which is also analogous to the conversion in rugby). The ball is placed at the other team's 3-yard (2.7 m) line (the 2-yard (1.8 m) line in the NFL). The team can attempt to kick it over the crossbar and through the goal posts in the manner of a field goal for 1 point (an extra point or point-after touchdown (PAT)[6]), or run or pass it into the end zone in the manner of a touchdown for 2 points (a two-point conversion). In college football, if the defense intercepts or recovers a fumble during a two point conversion attempt and returns it to the opposing end zone, the defensive team is awarded the two points.
A field goal (FG) is worth 3 points, and it is scored by kicking the ball over the crossbar and through the goal posts (uprights). Field goals may be placekicked (kicked when the ball is held vertically against the ground by a teammate) or drop-kicked (extremely uncommon in the modern game, with only two successes in the last 60 years). A field goal is usually attempted on fourth down instead of a punt when the ball is close to the opponent's goal line, or, when there is little or no time left to otherwise score.
A safety, worth 2 points, is scored by the defense when a ball-carrier is tackled in his own end zone. Safeties are also awarded if the offense fumbles the ball out-of-bounds in the end zone, has a kick blocked out of the end zone or commits certain penalties in the end zone. Safeties are relatively rare.

[edit] Kickoffs and free kicks
Each half begins with a kickoff. Teams also kick off after scoring touchdowns and field goals. The ball is kicked using a kicking tee from the team's own 30-yard (27 m) line in the NFL and college football (as of the 2007 season). The other team's kick returner tries to catch the ball and advance it as far as possible. Where he is stopped is the point where the offense will begin its drive, or series of offensive plays. If the kick returner catches the ball in his own end zone, he can either run with the ball, or elect for a touchback by kneeling in the end zone, in which case the receiving team then starts its offensive drive from its own 20 yard line. A touchback also occurs when the kick goes out-of-bounds in the end zone. A kickoff that goes out-of-bounds anywhere other than the end zone before being touched by the receiving team is considered an illegal procedure penalty, and the ball will be placed where it went out of bounds or 30 yards (27 m) from the kickoff spot, depending on which is more advantageous to the opposite team. Unlike with punts, once a kickoff goes 10 yards, it can be recovered by the kicking team. A team, especially one who is losing, can try to take advantage of this by attempting an onside kick. Punts and turnovers in the end zone can also end in a touchback.

After safeties, the team that gave up the points must free kick the ball to the other team from its own 20 yard line.


[edit] Penalties
For a complete list of penalties, see American football rules

Fouls (a type of rule violation) are punished with penalties against the offending team. Most penalties result in moving the football towards the offending team's end zone. If the penalty would move the ball more than half the distance towards the offender's end zone, the penalty becomes half the distance to the goal instead of its normal value.

Most penalties result in replaying the down. Some defensive penalties give the offense an automatic first down. Conversely, some offensive penalties result in loss of a down (loss of the right to repeat the down). If a penalty gives the offensive team enough yardage to gain a first down, they get a first down, as usual.

If a foul occurs during a down, an official throws a yellow flag near the spot of the foul. When the down ends, the team that did not commit the foul has the option of accepting the penalty, or declining the penalty and accepting the result of the down.

A few of the most-common fouls include:

False start: An offensive player illegally moves after lining up for--but prior to--the snap. Since the ball is dead, the down is not allowed to begin.
Offside: A defensive or offensive player is on the wrong side of the ball when the ball is snapped. This foul occurs simultaneously with the snap.
Holding: Illegally grasping or pulling an opponent other than the runner.
Pass interference: Illegally contacting an opponent to prevent him from catching a forward pass.
Delay of game: Failing to begin a new play after a certain time from the end of the last one.
Face mask: Grasping the face mask of another player while attempting to block or tackle him.
Illegal block in the back: A blocker contacting a member of the opposing team (who is not the runner) in the back and above the waist.
Clipping: A blocker contacting an opponent (who is not the runner) from behind and at or below the waist.
Under certain circumstances clipping and blocking in the back are legal.

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I love Karma, and will return the favor!

Long read, but basically the teams take turns attempting to advance the ball either by running (handing the ball to another player) or passing, throwing the ball to an eligable reciever. Both sides field 11 players with specific positions.

The offense with the ball is given 4 downs or plays to advance 10 yards, each time 10 yards are advanced another 4 downs are given, after 3 downs in most situations an offense will punt if far from the scoring end zone or kick the ball to give the other team a longer field to work with.

traveling the length of the field is worth 6 points after which an extra point try is awarded. The team chooses to either 1. kick the ball through the uprights for 1 point, or 2. run or pass the ball from very close to the end zone for 2 points.

after going 4 downs without covering 10 yards, or scoring the opponent's offense then gets the ball and attempts to do the same. hope that helps a bit or at least doesn't confuse you too terribly much.

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