The Glossary of American Football Part II
In the first part of our presentation for the terms and the nuances of the American football, we covered some of the most basic meanings. On the second part we will expand to what each player is supposed to do, when he is called upon to play. The first thing to know is that contrary to sports like football, players must line up precisely, otherwise the officials will call for an illegal formation and lose yardage. Even the numbers they wear denote their role.
A) Defense
- Defensive End
A defense formation lines up 4 men in front on the line of scrimmage (this is the position that the offensive team will snap the ball from). The 2 men at the outer sides are the defensive ends and their job is to not allow any offensive player to get to their outside. The must keep everything on the inside.
- Defensive Tackle
The other 2 men of the front 4 formation are the defensive tackles. They are supposed to hold off the offensive running backs from punching a hole and go through.
- Linebacker
Usually, 2 or 3 men line up right behind the front 4. They will try to get to the opposing quarterback and either bring him down (suck), prevent him from passing the ball to a tight end or wide receiver, or stop the running back.
- Cornerback
2 men line up on the outer side of each defensive formation and they are to follow the wide receivers and break down any play that passes the ball to them.
- Free Safety
He lines up behind the linebackers on either the left or the right and either assists the cornerback of his side or picks up any additional wide receivers or tight ends breaking up inside passing plays.
- Strong Safety
He is usually the bigger and stronger of the two safeties and positions himself closer to the line than the free safety. Covers any short passes to wide receivers right behind the front two lines or the case of the running back breaking through.
B) Offense
- The Quarterback
Moving the ball forward either through passing to the tight ends and the wide receivers, or through handing off the ball to the running backs, is his responsibility. The plays per case can be chosen either by the offensive coordinator, the head coach (if the QB is a fairly new one), or by himself.
- Halfback – Tailback – Full back
Whenever a second player lines up behind or at the same level as the quarterback they become a joker, so-to-speak. Depending on the position that they line up, they get the relevant position designator. Their role is to provide the quarterback with additional options on where to pass or hand off the ball. They can be used either as running backs, or as wide receiver. They can also be used to block attempts from the defensive team to reach and suck the quarterback.
- Running Back
In an offensive formation it is common to see a player lining up behind the quarterback. If the choice of play is to «run the ball», then the QB, either hands off the ball to the running back as the play begins and then he is supposed to exploit any gaps that the front line may have created in the defense and run towards the opposite touchdown zone. However, he can also run forward without the ball providing an additional option for the quarterback to pass the ball instead of handing it off.
- Center
The largest and strongest person in the offensive unit, lines up right in front of the quarterback and snaps the ball. Afterwards he blocks any attempts to interfere with the work of the QB.
- Guard
At either side if the center, the left and right guards line up and have two purposes. The first one is to attempt to punch holes in the defensive lineup, and the second one is to assist in protecting the access to the quarterback.
- Tackle
To the outside of the guards line up the left and right tackles. Their job is to lead the way to the running backs and block defensive players from stopping them.
- Tight End
In standard formations, one player lines up outside the tackles either to the left or to the right. In a sense he is a middle wide receiver and usually gets short yardage passes behind the front defensive line, or between the linebackers and the safeties.
- Wide Receiver
The last of the offensive players line up at the sides of the field. They are not supposed to be big but agile and fast. They run up the field towards the in-zone of the defensive teams expecting long passes from the quarterbacks.
C) Punting Unit
- Punter
When the time comes to punt the ball to the receiving team, he stands 15 yards behind the rest of the formation. The long snapper sends the ball to him and he must kick it as far away as possible. The most common tactic here is to send the ball as close to the touchdown zone and to the sides of the field.
- Long Snapper
It’s the player in the middle of the punting formation that must send the ball all the way back to the punter after the snap. He performs the same task for the kicking unit.
- End
Two players stand between the rest of the formation and the punter at either side. Their role is to prevent the other side from reaching the punter and disrupting his job and to run at the receiver after the punt to prevent him from advancing too far.
- Blocker
Except the punter and the ends, all of the remaining 8 players are called blockers and they are supposed to stop any players from the receiving team from blocking the punt and to take away the protection from the receiver so that the ends can stop him. The players do the same job when the kicking unit is on the field and when they are on the receiving team and they try to protect the receiver.
D) Kicking Unit
- Kicker
It’s the player that kicks the ball to the receiving team during a kick-off (either at the beginning of each half or after a scoring play), or tries to kick the ball between the uprights during a field goal attempt.
- Holder
The player that receives the ball from the long snapper and spots it on the ground for the kicker in a field goal try is the holder.
E) Returning Unit
- Returner
The player that stands the furthest away back during a punt or a kick off, is waiting to receive the ball and either signal a fair catch or try to run towards the other side attempting to cover as much distance as possible.
The many roles, formations and eligibilities involved in American football indicate the complexity of the sport. We strongly recommend that you study and watch a few matches to get a better idea of the intricacies involved, and then register for a betting account via agent to start betting. In the next part, we will talk about the various infringements that players do during a match and the penalties that they are liable to get.
