Official NFL Football Rules
Organized professional football was first called the National Football League in 1922. While the basic idea and structure of the game has remained the same, the league has undergone several rule changes over the course of the years. It is important to understand the basic concept of the game before you try to dive into the more complicated and situational sections of the official NFL rulebook.
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The Field
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The field is measured at 100 yards in length and 53 yards in width. It is marked with small white lines at every yard in order to help keep track of the spot of the ball. At each end of the field, there is an end zone, which teams try to get the ball to in order to score points. The end zones add an additional 10 yards to each end of the field.
Summary of Objectives
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The object of the game of football is to score more points than the other team. Teams are allowed to have 49 players on their roster, and each team has 11 players on the field at once; any more or any less will result in a penalty. The team with possession of the ball is called the offense. The offense is trying to advance the ball down the field by either running with it or throwing it through the air. The opposing team is called the defense. They are trying to prevent the offense from reaching the end of the field, called the end zone.
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Scoring
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If the offense reaches the end zone, it is called a touchdown and they are awarded six points. Immediately following a touchdown, the scoring team gets the chance to kick the ball through the goal posts from the two-yard line and earn one more point. Another option after scoring a touchdown is to try for two points, which is called a two-point conversion. The ball is placed at the two-yard line, and in order to earn the two points, the offense must get the ball into the end zone once again. If either the extra point or two-point conversion fails, the offense is only awarded the six points they originally received for scoring the touchdown. If the defense stops the offense from getting into the end zone, the offense may elect to kick a field goal if they are within a reasonable range of the goalposts. If the kicker is able to boot the ball between the posts, the offense is awarded three points. The only other way to score, aside from touchdowns and field goals, is to get a safety. A safety occurs when the defense tackles the offensive player with the ball behind his team's own goal line.
Timing
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Each game consists of four fifteen-minute quarters. There are two-minute breaks after the first and third quarters, and a 12-minute break, called halftime, after the second quarter. The clock is also stopped at the end of an incomplete passing play, when the player with the ball goes out of bounds, or when a penalty is called. If all four quarters have been completed and the game is still tied, NFL rules are that the game goes into an additional 15-minute period in which the first team to score wins. If no team scores in overtime, the result is a tie.
Ball Advancement
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Progress in the NFL is measured in yards. Every time a team gets the ball, they have four tries, called downs, to move the ball 10 yards. If, for example, the offense has the ball at the 20-yard line on first down, and they run the ball to the 26-yard line, it becomes second down and four, meaning they are now on their second try and have four yards to go. If the offense goes the 10 yards within four tries, they get another four downs and have to go 10 more yards from the spot of the ball on the last play. In college football, the clock is stopped when the offense earns a first down regardless of how they got it, but in the NFL the clock continues to run. Typically a team that is out of field goal range on fourth down will punt the ball away to the other team in order to force them to start driving toward their end zone from a further distance.
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