Familiarize The Common Terms Used In Gridiron Football

It’s never too late to start your football passion. Football is really interesting and fun to watch yet confusing if you do not know the terminologies used by football fans. Terminologies are important to understand the whole context of a sport. 

If you have little to no knowledge about terms used in gridiron football and want to learn so that you can watch the next football game without feeling left out, here are the most common terminologies used that you may constantly hear. 

Line Of Scrimmage 

A-Line of Scrimmage is an imaginary line in the football field that separates opposing teams before each game starts. The line is placed in the preceding play area and comes after the evaluation of penalty yards. 

Fumble 

A fumble is when the offensive team player loses control of the ball by dropping it before scoring, going outside the boundary, or tackled. 

Tackle

A tackle is an act carried out by the defensive player to stop the offensive player’s progress who has the ball by bringing him down to the ground. From now on, when you see the player who got the football was brought down to the ground by one or many opposing players, then you know it is called a tackle.

Sack

A sack is also a tackle but only possible if the quarterback is tackled before he could have a chance to pass the ball. Many newbie football fans who watch a football game for the first time may have mistakenly referred to a sack as a fumble. Although they are the same but technically, in football, both are completely different acts. 

Interception 

Like what the word suggests, an interception is an act when the opposing team defense caught the forward pass made by the offensive player, mostly the quarterback. Besides tackling, intercepting the pass thrown is also an effective way to take possession of the ball. 

End Zone  

The end zone is a scoring area on the football field located on both the opposing field’s end zones. 

Touchdown 

In relation to the end zone, a touchdown occurred when the offensive player Advances the football to the opponent’s end zone. Touchdowns are commonly abbreviated as TD by most sporting articles. 

Punt

A punt is an act made by the offensive team to change the field position. The punter will need to kick the ball as he lets go of it before it reaches the ground. The ball should be kicked as far and as high as possible in the air. 

Blitz

Blitzing is a strategy used by the defensive team to interrupt the pass attempt by the offensive quarterback. To perform a blitz, one or more defense players will charge the quarterback to force him to hurry his pass or to tackle him to disrupt the pass attempt.

Rushing Yards

Another term you might commonly hear of is rushing yards. This is referred to the number of yards made by a single player carrying the ball as the result of a play. The number of yards credited to the rushing player will depend on his own movement. If he rushes five yards, it will be added to his total rushing yards, and if he goes back two yards by his own motion, two yards will then be deducted from his total yards.

Passing Yards

Another yard credited to a football player in the passing yards. But unlike the rushing yards, the passing yards credited the offensive team with their completed passes. If the quarterback throws 20-yards to the receiver and the receiver then runs for 10-yards then fumbles, the quarterback will be credited 30 passing yards.

Receiving Yards

On the other hand, receiving yards is the number of yards gained by the receiver in a passing play. The receiver will also be credited 30 receiving yards based on the given example in the passing yard section. 

Huddle

When you see a specific team’s players gather together in a tight circle, this is referred to as a huddle. Players huddle to discuss strategies, celebrate, or motivate each other or a specific team player.

Passing Play

A passing play is an act of a player throwing or passing the ball to a teammate. The offensive quarterback usually performs this as he throws the ball at the back of the line of scrimmage to the suitable receiver in the field. 

Terminologies you can encounter in gridiron football are not limited to what was mentioned in this article. There are still a whole bunch of terms used in this sport. The mentioned terms are the ones that are most in use during a football game. 

Takeaway

Terminologies are just words used to identify or describe an act made by players in the field. However, there is more to learn when it comes to technicality than the terms you encounter, as gridiron football rules are complex. Sometimes, it is still up to the referee whether they call out an act or not.