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Hi everyone, I’m Dave (or Figgsy), I’m from Bolton, England and I’ve been a loose fan of the Chiefs for roughly around 3 years. I don’t know very much about American Football tactically (other than what I’ve seen on the TV and on Madden), so my insight on that will be minimal and although I don’t catch many games (with the time difference and all), I try to watch highlights when I can.
I decided I wanted to be a little closer to the community I’ve watched from afar for a while – I hope you guys break me in slowly!
Maybe you can teach me a few things while I’m here too!
One thing I can’t get my head around is that I know that at any point after the snap, you’re only allowed to pass the ball forward once, but can do lateral passes as many times as you want, why don’t teams use that rule to their advantage? I think it’d catch quite a few teams offguard if we were to do that, maybe I’m being naive, I’m sure you’ll set me straight!
Figgsywoo;254193 wrote:One thing I can’t get my head around is that I know that at any point after the snap, you’re only allowed to pass the ball forward once, but can do lateral passes as many times as you want, why don’t teams use that rule to their advantage? I think it’d catch quite a few teams offguard if we were to do that, maybe I’m being naive, I’m sure you’ll set me straight!More like Rugby, you mean? 😆
You actually see that happen quite a bit on last second Kick or punt returns … And it rarely works out well.
The biggest problem is that the risk of turnover is too great. There are usually many defenders around whoever has the ball and the risk just outweighs the potential reward of a few extra yards.
Then too you are losing a small chunk of yards every time you lateral the ball. The offensive player would have to have a team mate close by and most of them have their hands full trying to block defenders. The team mate would also need to be expecting the ball to come to him and have a plan of what to do once he got it.
I love the more constant movement of the ball in Rugby and Australian rules football, but NFL Football isn’t really set up for that.
I like the way you think, though. :bananen_smilies046:
College Football?
Why does it seem more popular than the NFL?
Do all college players have to have an education?
If so, what happens to all the top quality players who are really stupid? Surely talent over brains? Who cares if they’re stupid if they have entertain a crowd?
Also, I’m still a bit foggy with the NFL draft.
If a player is picked, does he have to join that team? or is that usually sorted behind closed doors with agents?
Sorry to bother you with all these questions :sign0104:
TopekaRoy;254203 wrote:😆 I still don’t completely understand Rugby, or Cricket. And I’ve even read the rules on Wikipedia!I’m fairly new to Rugby (both forms) and I love cricket, but (like American Football, I fear), it seems more complicated than it actually is, because of all the technical terms used.
I’m a simple man, with simple needs, which is why I primarily watch football (soccer for you, and I’m not trying to be patronising!).
More Good Questions!
Figgsywoo;254204 wrote:College Football?Why does it seem more popular than the NFL?
I’ll save this one for last.
Figgsywoo;254204 wrote:Do all college players have to have an education?If so, what happens to all the top quality players who are really stupid? Surely talent over brains? Who cares if they’re stupid if they have entertain a crowd?
They all have to graduate from High School to get into college, but they certainly don’t have to be smart. Some very good High School athletes get pushed through, taking remedial classes, and are given better grades than they deserve, because teachers are under pressure for them to remain “academically eligible” to participate in sports.
Getting into college is another story. Some universities have very low academic standards for their student athletes and these are the schools the weaker students tend to gravitate toward. Still, in many instances, a player may need to attend a 2 year junior college and get his grades up before transferring to a major 4 year university. Many take this route.
Figgsywoo;254204 wrote:Also, I’m still a bit foggy with the NFL draft.If a player is picked, does he have to join that team? or is that usually sorted behind closed doors with agents?
A player has to sign with the team that drafted him or he may choose to sit out (and not get paid). This is very rare but has happened from time to time. If a team knows that a player doesn’t want to play for them, they will usually just pick someone else.
In 2004, the San Diego Chargers had the first pick in the draft, and Eli Manning made it clear that he would not play for them. They drafted him anyway and immediately traded him to the New York Giants for Phillip Rivers. The Chargers also got some extra draft picks out of the deal.
To answer your first question, pro football is actually far more popular than College football, at least as far as television viewing goes.
The reason it might not appear that way from afar is that there are 120 division one colleges and only 32 NFL teams. Pro fans tend to support the local team, whereas fans of a particular college may live anywhere in the country. College fans tend to be far more passionate about their teams because in many cases they attended that particular university, or their father or another family member did. People become fans of some college teams because of a long winning tradition (Nebraska, Oklahoma) or because they respect a great coach that is or was there a very long time.
Because college players are there for only 3 or 4 years, their fans are much more interested in supporting the school, the institution, while NFL fans tend to support the team while they often show disdain for the Owner or the General Manager.
That’s my take on it, anyway. I hope this helps.
Figgsywoo;254204 wrote:Sorry to bother you with all these questions :sign0104:No problem. This is fun!
Thanks everyone! I hope to be a regular poster on here, which hopefully means I’ll pick up a hell of a lot more of the rules as I go along.
For those interested in why I became a Chiefs fan, I started watching AF around four years ago without any sort of affection for anyone in particular, i was content for a while to do that. But then i wanted to actually want a team, to have a ‘home’ as it were. A few of my mates supported different teams, Jets and Pats being the main two, so I did what anyone in my situation would do and I put all 32 teams into the metaphorical ‘hat’ and voila, here I am three years later!
All my friends tell me to drop the Chiefs and support a more successful team, but I’ve been struck and that’s it, I’m a Chiefs fan for life now. Arrowhead sounds amazing and I hope to one day visit.
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