Football for Normal Girls - Page 8 of 67 -

Zebra Talk : The Not Forward Pass

Last week we learned about what constitutes an illegal forward pass. But a forward pass isn’t the only pass allowed in the NFL. There’s also the backward pass. Which should probably just be labeled the Not Forward Pass, as we’ll soon find out.

Here’s a definition that just might make your day:

Any pass not forward is regarded as a backward pass. A pass parallel to the line is a backward pass.

The first part would have a better shot at making sense if second part wasn’t there. Because the second part makes me want to come to a four way stop, turn right, and regard myself as going backwards, as per the definition. And also because a pass parallel to the line is actually a thing. It’s called a lateral pass.

And you wonder why football makes you crazy.

So for those of you keeping score: a pass that isn’t a forward pass is a backward pass. Even if it’s a lateral pass. Any direction not forward is backward.

And that’s Wednesday.

But not so fast! There are a few other details.

First, backwards passes are legal. There won’t be any yellow flag action for a non-forward pass.

Second, backwards passes circumvent the second pass rule we talked about last week. A player can throw the ball either backwards or sideways (which, apparently, is still backwards) and the player who catches it can legally throw the ball forward to another player since that would be the first forward pass. Second total pass, but first thrown forward.

This is most frequently seen when the circus comes to town at the end of a close game. You might have seen a team that is losing receive a kickoff as time runs out and try to advance the ball down the field backwards – one player throws it behind to another player who runs forward and then throws it behind to another player and so on and so forth. It’s all legal as long as the ball doesn’t travel forward.

In closing: may all of your progress be forward. And may your car understand you mean regular backwards and not NFL backwards when you put it in reverse today.

Amen.

5-Minute Football : End Zones

We all probably know what an end zone is. That’s a no brainer. But we’ve talked about end zones fairly frequently over the past few weeks, so I thought it’d be a good time to corral all of that info into a 5-minute football lesson.

Here’s a ~~crooked~~ homemade visual to serve as a frame of reference while we chat about all things end zone:

1. The end zones are the 10-yard scoring zones located at the ends of each playing field.

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you already knew that, but we’ll cover all of our bases just in case. On that note: the objective of the game is to score in the other team’s end zone.

2. The end zones are 10-yards deep.

A football field consists of 100-yards of playing space with two 10-yard end zones at each end. That’s how kicks returned for touchdowns can be greater than 100-yards, even though the playing field is only 100-yards long. If the receiver catches the kick in the back of the end zone he’s likely 8 or 9 yards deep before he crosses the goal line and runs into the playing field. By the time he crosses the goal line at the other end of the field to score in the other team’s end zone, he’s run a total of 108-yards or so. Thus, a 108-yard return on a 100-yard field.

3. The yard line just prior to the end zone is called the goal line.

The goal line functions as the barrier between the playing field and the end zone. The nose of the football must cross the goal line to count as a touchdown. (If a receiver is standing in the end zone to catch a touchdown, he must have full control of the ball and two feet in-bounds to count as a touchdown.)

4. Four orange pylons (plastic cones that look kind of like tall, skinny, square construction cones) indicate the outer parameters of the end zone.

When the football crosses the goal line it must be inside of the pylons to count as a touchdown.

5. Each team does not claim one end zone for the whole game!!!

This might me one of the most commonly unknown facts in all of football: a team doesn’t get to keep their end zone for the whole game. There is not one side that is, say, the Browns end zone and then the other side is the Titans end zone for the whole game. As we learned last week, teams switch end zones at the end of every quarter to accommodate for fair playing conditions, and the team that defers the kickoff gets to choose which end zone they’ll defend first.

Easy way to remember which end zone is which team’s? Each team’s end zone is the one behind them. Here’s a good example that might serve as your lightbulb moment for the day (I know it was for me the first time I heard it!):

Let’s say the Browns and the Titans are playing. The Titans are on offense and the Browns are on defense. When both teams line up along the line of scrimmage, the Browns end zone will be the one behind the Browns, and the Titans end zone will be the one behind the Titans. The Titans are trying to score in the Browns end zone, and the Browns are trying to defend their own end zone against being scored in.

And now you know all the things you never knew you never knew about end zones. So it’s already been a successful Tuesday! Good work!

Calling All Normal Girls!

The water cooler is staying in the fridge this week as I was traveling most of yesterday and was unable to write our usual weekend review. A shame, since it was such a wild weekend of football!!! The NFL fully embraced Let It Snow as the song of the day, it seemed. But, we do have something else to talk about! And it is pretty exciting!

Now that we’ve (reluctantly) arrived at the last quarter of the regular season I’m starting to think about our offseason schedule (also reluctantly). My favorite idea so far? Normal Girls. Featuring the normal girls out there who LOVE football in a weekly fan column!

If you are a fan of football – high school, college, NFL, any level! – and would like to be featured as one of our normal girls, send an email to beka@footballfornormalgirls.com. I’ll send you a brief questionnaire and ask you to send along a photo or two of yourself as a fan – at a game, in a jersey, etc – and just other basic info. It’s pretty low maintenance, but it should be fun!

So, who’s in?!

Review and Preview : Week 13

Review

Receive: to receive the kickoff at the beginning of the game and start on offense. (From Tuesday’s post.)

Defer: to receive the kickoff at the beginning of the second half of the game and start of defense. (From Tuesday’s post.)

Receiving team: the team that receives the kickoff. (From Tuesday’s post.)

Kicking team: the team that kicks the kickoff. (From Tuesday’s post.)

Coach’s challenge: when a coach throws a red flag to challenge the ruling on the field. A coach gets two challenges per game, three if he wins the first two, but loses a timeout if he loses the challenge. (From Wednesday’s post.)

Booth review: when the replay assistant in the booth signals down for the head official to take another look at a play to confirm or reverse the ruling on the field. (From Wednesday’s post.)

Going under the hood: when the head official goes under the hood of the camera to take another look at a play to confirm or reverse the ruling on the field. (From Wednesday’s post.)

Blitz: when multiple defensive players rush the quarterback in an attempt to sack him. (From Wednesday’s post.)

Sack: when a quarterback is tackled while still holding the ball prior to throwing a pass. (From Wednesday’s post.)

Illegal Forward Pass: a forward pass that is thrown a) in front of the line of scrimmage, b) after a change of possession, or c) as the second forward pass on one play. (From Thursday’s post.)

Preview

Normal Girl Game of the Week

Panthers at Saints, SNF on NBC

There are about a hundred different ways I would overstate this matchup, but in the end, it’s comes down to this: first place in the NFC South is up for grabs, as is an all-important divisional win. The 9-3 Saints did not have an easy week. After coming off of a huge loss in Seattle they got home even later than normal for a Monday nighter due to cross country travel delays. The 9-3 Panthers, on the other hand, are coming off a win, and are looking to do what no one thought they would be able to do at the start of the season: take control of the NFC South. It should be a fantastic way to end the weekend.

Also on the Radar:

1. The last AFC wildcard spot is still very much up for grabs. Two teams are 6-6 (Dolphins and Ravens) and each division has a 5-7 team (Jets, Steelers, Titans, Chargers). A quick reaction might hand that spot to the defending Super Bowl champs, but that might be hasty. Their last “easy” game is this week against the Vikings. After that, they face the Lions, Patriots, and Bengals. Yikes.

2. The NFC East is still a mystery as well. It doesn’t look quite as bad as it once did, but all three teams at the top (Eagles, Cowboys, and, somehow, Giants) have a shot to win the division. They don’t play each other this week, but they do each face a formidable foe: the Eagles play the Lions, the Cowboys play the Bears, and the Giants play the Chargers. The Cowboys might have the best chance to win and take the division lead away from the Eagles should they lose against the Lions, and if the Giants lose against the Chargers in San Diego they are almost definitely out of playoff contention.

3. It pains me to say this…but the NFC North might be worse than the NFC East at this point. Don’t let the 40 points Detroit put up on a bedraggled Green Bay team fool you: no team in this division has their act together. With the Lions and Bears both facing decent competition from the NFC East, one would think this weekend might open the door for a Packers team playing a woeful Falcons group. However, that one may not have witnessed The Massacre on Turkey Day…by the Lions. Even if Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler both returned to add a spark to their prospective teams, it still feels like it would be too little too late. This division will be ~~ugly~~ undecided until the end.

Zebra Talk : Illegal Forward Pass

Did you all see the A Football Life documentary on the forward pass? If you haven’t it’s definitely one to add to your watch list for a great piece of NFL history. Because really, can you even imagine what the league would be like today if the forward pass was still illegal?

It would be rugby, pretty much.

So we are all very thankful for the evolution of the forward pass. But not all forward passes are legal. There is still such a thing as an illegal forward pass.

An illegal forward pass happens when: a) a pass is thrown in front of the line of scrimmage, b) a pass is thrown after a change of possession, or c) a pass is the second forward pass thrown on one play.

Let’s unpack that a little.

A) A pass thrown in front on the line of scrimmage

This actually happened on Monday Night Football this past week. Russell Wilson, in a feat of pure ingenuity, found a way to lob a pass over to an open Marshawn Lynch for a first down. The only problem was that Wilson was in front of the line of scrimmage when he threw the pass, which resulted in some yellow laundry on the field for an illegal forward pass. The quarterback has to be behind the line of scrimmage, the imaginary starting line where the ball is placed, when he is throwing a forward pass.

b) A pass thrown after a change of possession

Let’s say a defensive back picks off a pass intended to go to the wide receiver he’s covering. That’s an interception, which is a change of possession because as soon the defensive back catches the pass for an interception he becomes an offensive player trying to score. He was once defending against the offense trying to score, now he is the offense trying to score. Change of possession. But after he picks off the pass and runs toward his opponent’s end zone he can’t find an open teammate downfield and chuck the ball to him. That’s a pass thrown after a change of possession, and that’s illegal.

c) A second forward pass thrown on one play

It’s cool for the quarterback to throw a forward pass to an eligible receiver while he’s standing behind the line of scrimmage. It’s not cool for him to throw it forward to another offensive player and then for him to throw it forward to another eligible receiver. That’s a second forward pass thrown on a single play, which constitutes an illegal forward pass.

So: a pass thrown from behind the line of scrimmage to an eligible receiver? Good. A pass thrown in front of the line of scrimmage, after a change of possession, or for a second go-round on one play? Not so good.

Ashley’s Rookie Season : Reviews and Blitzes

Our friend Ashley is back with two more phenomenal questions! Let’s get started!

Q: When a play goes “under review” who reviews it? Just the refs? Who gets the final say?

Good question! The instant replay system was used for the first time back in 1986 and, while sometimes flawed, has almost unquestionably changed the game for the better. Football happens so fast. And the refs are only human. It’s unrealistic to expect them to get the call right every time based only on what they see in the moment. That’s where instant replay comes in.

There are two ways reviews happen. First, a head coach can challenge the ruling on the field and ask for an official review. He throws a red flag out on the field to indicate he is challenging the ruling. Coaches get two challenges per game. If he is wrong about a challenge (like if he thought a catch ruled a touchdown was actually a fumble and the replay shows a valid touchdown) his team loses a timeout. If he is right about both of their challenges (like if he thought a catch ruled a touchdown was actually a fumble and the replay shows that the ball was fumbled, and if he thought a player stepped out of bounds on a return when he was ruled inside and the replay shows he did step out) his team is awarded a third challenge.

Second, in the final two-minutes of each half or in overtime, a replay assistant sitting up in the booth can call for an official review, or a “booth review.” He has the time from the end of one play to the start of the next to call for a review. He buzzes a signal down to the head official who then “goes under the hood” to watch the replay from various angles and make a decision on the play.

The head official, or referee, makes the final call on all reviews.

For a much more in-depth (and very interesting!) read on all things instant replay, check out this post from Steelers Fever.

Q: What is a blitz?

The dictionary definition of a blitz is, “an intensive or sudden military attack,” and that’s pretty much what it translates to in the NFL as well.

During a blitz, multiple defenders rush to the quarterback in an attempt to sack him. A sack is a play in which the quarterback is tackled while still holding onto the ball as a passer, not as a runner. (So tackling a quarterback who is advancing the ball forward as a runner does not count as a sack). This both a) prevents the offense from completing a play and b) results in lost yardage (since the quarterback is located behind the line of scrimmage, or starting line, and the line of scrimmage will be moved back to where the quarterback was sacked to start the next play). It’s advantageous for the defense when it works. Here’s a visual:

In this blitz, two defensive backs (the cornerbacks) and three linebackers are going to rush the quarterback in an attempt to sack him. This was a completely random designation; a blitz can happen with any combination of defensive players, although it usually does include defensive backs and linebackers, and often defensive ends, too.

The disadvantage to blitzing the quarterback comes if they don’t get the sack. If the quarterback is only pressured but still gets the ball off he will have a fairly open field to throw to. This is because a good percentage of the defenders who usually cover the middle and deep portions of the field are otherwise occupied at the front of the field trying to sack him.

Another good round, Ash! And don’t forget that you all can join in on the rookie fun and ask questions, too. Anything is fair game!