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***Super Bowl XLV Green Bay Packers v Pittsburgh Steelers - Official Match Thread***
- Thread starter Beach Hut
- Start date
ali jenkins
Thanks to Guinness Dave
Touchdown Packers!!!
The basic premise is quite simple:
Get to the end zone. To do this you have to move the ball up the field, either by running with it, or throwing and catching it. You get 4 chances (downs) to move the ball a minimum of ten yards from where the first down starts.
This means if you start with a first down on the 10 yard line, you have four attempts to get the ball to the 20 yard line. You can do this in one go, moving the ball ten yard in one play, or move it two yards, then 5, then 3.
Once you've moved the ball a minimum of ten yards you get four more chances (downs) to move it another ten yards, and so on until you get to the end zone.
The whole "3rd & 7" thing is an indication of the down and the distance to go. In that example, it means the team are about to make their third attempt, and they have to move the ball 7 yards to get the next first down. Often the place they have to reach is marked on TV with a yellow line across the pitch, showing where they have to get to. A blue line indicates where they start (the line of scrimmage).
The ball can, of course, be moved more than 10 yards at a time. If the ball is moved 30 yards, you start the next set of downs from the 40 yard line. You start from wherever the last play (attempt to move the ball) ended with the ball in play.
When I say with the ball in play, I mean in a play where a thrown ball that isn't caught the play would end where the ball hits the ground, but because the pass was incomplete, the ball isn't in play, and the next down is taken from the same place the previous one was.
If you get the ball in the end zone you get 6 points. You then get to play the ball again from a few yards out. Typically an easy kick is taken to put the ball between the upright posts for one extra point. Occasionally teams will try to put the ball in the en zone for two points.
Typically, unless the fourth play is inches, or you are chasing the game and running out of play, the fourth play is a punt. This is done because if you don't make the 10 yards on the fourth attempt, your opponents take possession where it is. So, rather than risk not making the 10 yards and gifting them possession high up the field (thus less distance to cover for them to get to the end zone) they kick the ball as far down the pitch as they can, to give their opponents further to move the ball.
If they are close enough to the end zone, the fourth attempt won't be a punt, it will be a goal kick, where they try to kick it through the upright posts for 3 pts (a field goal). After the team has scored, they kick off (kick the ball to their opponents trying to push them as far down the pitch as possible).
Those are the basics.
Slightly more complex explanations include (if you're interested)...
If a yellow flag is thrown for an infringement a distance punishment is usually administered. If it is the offensive team, they are pushed back and so might have to move the ball more than 10 yards. For instance, if they are given a 5 yard penalty, their starting point is pushed back 5 yards, they still have to make their original distance. i.e. if they were on the ten yard line and had to make the 20 yard line, they get a five yard penalty, they start from the five yard line and still have to get to the 20.
If it is a defensive error, the offensive move forward 5 yards (start on the 15 yard line and try to get to the 20).
Sometimes the penalty isn't as severe as ignoring it, for instance, maybe the offence moves the ball from the 10 yard line to the 30 yard line. A penalty would mean they go back to the 14 yard line, so they can decline the penalty, and continue from the thirty yard line.
The clock will stop if a player steps out of play with the ball.
The clock will stop if a throw is incomplete.
Teams have 40 seconds from the end of one play to start the next. (I think)
If you get tackled in your own end zone, your opponents get 2 pts.
If you get tackled further back than the play started, the next play starts further back, your destination point is still the same. (Sometimes when a quarter back gets the ball, he may back peddle to create space and time to make a throw).
There tends to be three parts to a team; offence (who try to move the ball up the field), Defence (who try to stop the opponents moving it up the field), and special teams (kick off, punting, kicking, post-touchdown conversions, etc), so when possession changes so do the teams.
Only certain players are allowed to catch the ball.
Distances given at penalties can be 5, 10, 15 or 'half the distance to the goal'
Sometimes the play ends the furthest point forward a player makes (for instance someone might get tackled at the 25 yard line, and pushed back before the ref blows the whistle to signify the end of that play, play will then start at the 25 yard line).
A play can end when the player in possession of the ball is stopped, when he is brought to the ground by contact*, when he steps out of bound.
*A player can trip over his own feet, get up and continue. If he isn't touched by an opponent the play isn't over.
Defensive players can win possession by intercepting a throw, or causing the offensive player with the ball to fumble (drop it), or force the team to punt by stopping them making the ten yards.
With quarter backs, the fumble gets tricky. If a throw hits the ground, it isn't a fumble, it is an incomplete pass. So, once a quarterbacks arm starts moving forward it is deemed a throw so if the ball comes loose it can't be picked up by anyone. If the ball is knocked out his arm while it is moving back, getting ready to throw it is a fumble.
The change of possession by interception or picking up a fumble is called a 'turnover'.
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ali jenkins
Thanks to Guinness Dave
It'll be a great game now if the Steelers come back to win this.
jimmypbha
New member
Apparently no team has come back from a deficit of more than 10 points in the Super Bowl. But I do fancy the steelers to come back and win
Barrel of Fun
Abort, retry, fail
Fergie is a bit sexy, despite her surgical makeover.
middletoenail
Well-known member
Those dancers look class, almost looks like CGI.
Barrel of Fun
Abort, retry, fail
A plane has just tried to land on the stadium.
Barrel of Fun
Abort, retry, fail
It was all those glowing lights that confused the pilot. Would be good to have a Steelers TD soon.