Background Reading

My other half kindly dug out a book for me to read to help with my quest. It's called 'The Draft - A Year Inside the NFL's Search for Talent' and is by Pete Williams.

I'm probably about quarter of the way through, and so far I'm really enjoying it. It's incredibly interesting, and whilst it may be called 'a year inside the NFL's search for talent', it actually goes back quite a way and covers a large time period, basically explaining how the NFL draft came to be what it is today. It's quite a good time for me to read it and learn about it, given that it's coming up to the draft time of year.

The book is really informative and mentions a lot of former and current players (sometimes I've even heard of them!), as well as a lot of teams, scouts, managers, rules, draft rule changes and so on. So I think I'm going to have to read it a second time once I'm done to make sure I take in as much as I can. I don't think that will be difficult though, as I've found the book to be very well written so far. It does assume some prior knowledge, so I do sometimes have to ask my other half for an extra explanation. However, that doesn't happen that often, and despite it not being a fictional tale that is supposed to suck you in, I do keep wanting to read more - it's incredibly interesting to learn how the draft develops.

I haven't been reading much of the current news at the moment, although I really should! However, time has been short and my 'learning NFL' time has been consumed by the book. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to catch up on some of the goings on.

More Formation and Positions

I found this diagram on Wikipedia which I think is quite useful for me at this stage:

(Image from Wikipedia)

At some point I will start using 'proper' American football sources, but for now Wikipedia is pretty useful.

This morning I have been learning a bit more about the positions. 

Offense:

In the offense, ends are 'tight ends' if they place close to the offensive linemen - logical really! If they play further out, they are 'split ends' or sometimes wide receivers. Other wide receivers (the backs) are referred to as 'flankers', if they play wide (but still in the backfield) or 'slot receivers' if they play in the slot between the tight end and the rest of the offensive line. There isn't a slot receiver on the above diagram but you can see where they would be positioned, which helps me a lot. Seven players must be on the line of scrimmage at the start of a play, and four must be behind, although their actual positions can vary a lot.

Defense:

All defensive players have to be behind their line of scrimmage. Some players line up opposite the offensive line and, unsurprisingly, are called the defensive linemen. They usually have a defensive end at each end, and one or two tackles in between. The linebackers are behind them (I mentioned their strong, middle and week positions in yesterday's post). Cornerbacks usually line up opposite wide receivers, and safeties are at the back. For some reason (haven't got to why exactly yet) the linemen and linebackers are referred to as 'in the box' and everyone else is 'outside the box'.

Note: My other half has explained that this is to give a quick idea of whether the formation is trying to stop the pass or the run. If there are seven in the box, which is usual, the defense are probably trying to stop a pass. If there are more, they are probably trying to stop the run (for example, if the offense are very close to the defense's end zone).

Rules, Rules and More Rules - Formations

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been trying to get to grips with the rules of the game. I've been attempting to learn about the positions and formations. Remembering it all whilst in the off-season is hard, as I'm not watching it and putting my new knowledge to use! Again, I've been using the Wikipedia pages on American Football and on Formation, which are a very useful resource for starting off.

Here's what I've been learning so far:

Offense:

Quarterback - kind of obvious this one, but he's the one that throws/passes the ball and leads the team. Sometimes they do run and score themselves as well, some are more partial to doing this than others. I'm a big fan of Peyton and Eli Manning, if only for this video. Trust me, you want to watch it.

Center - this is the player who snaps the ball to the quarterback. He also blocks once he has snapped the ball. This second bit of information is the kind of knowledge I have lacked (and still do lack really), so it's good that I'm learning!

Guard - blocks next to the center player.

Tackle - blocks next to the guard player.

Tight end - sometimes blocks, but I know them mostly for receiving the ball, having spent a lot of time watching the Patriots - they are big on throwing to tight ends, such as Rob Gronkowski.

Wide receiver - also receives the ball.

Half back and fullback - primary and secondary ball carrier, also known to me as running backs. The fullback also blocks.

There must be seven players (at least) on the line of scrimmage. Only the players at each end may catch the ball. These bits of knowledge are new to me, and I think it would really help to watch a game so I can properly visualise this.

Here is a picture of a typical formation to help with said visualisation:

(Picture from Wikipedia)

Defense:

Defensive lineman - these are made up of defensive tackles and defensive ends. Tackles stop the runners, ends chase the quarterback. At least, I believe that's the idea.

Linebacker - there are strong, middle and weak linebackers (for some reason also referred to as Sam, Mike and Will???!!), depending on where they line up in relation to the offense's tight end (strong on the same side, weak on the other side, middle in the, well, middle).

Defensive back - these consist of cornerbacks, a strong safety and a free safety. Cornerbacks are supposed to defend passes, safeties defend passes and runs. Free safeties can move around where they want to.

Here's a defensive formation:

(Also from Wikipedia)

That's probably enough for my brain to take in for one evening. Maybe I'll catch up with a bit of current NFL news though!

Back to Basics

I figured that if I'm going to develop my knowledge of NFL to the point where I can give informed opinions and comments, I should really start with the basics. I had some basic knowledge of the game and how it works, but not enough to say that I fully understood the game rules. I could never remember where the line of scrimmage was, and couldn't have told you whether a formation was legal or not, and was completely clueless about fouls. Luckily, my ever-patient other half is generally happy to explain what's happening to me, so I can learn a bit that way. However, it's not football season at the moment so learning by watching is not an easy option at the moment.

Instead, I referred to the faithful resource that is Wikipedia. I do realise that some of the information on Wikipedia needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, however for basics it is normally quite useful. I have been reading this page for information, and clicking on some of the links for further explanations. I'll almost certainly need to refer back to it, as there's no way I'll be able to remember it all from one read through. However, I feel like I've made a good start. Maybe in the next post I'll share some of the things I've learned.

It would also be nice to figure out a way to incorporate pictures into the blog posts. Posting about what I've learned might help with this.

In addition to re-reading the basic rules, I'm going to try to read some of the current NFL news to make a start in learning about current players, attitudes, teams and opinions. I suspect I'll need to refer back to the basic rules/Google to understand some of the information, but it should be a good learning curve!

Start At The Very Beginning

It's a very good place to start...

Welcome to my blog!

I didn't intend to start this blog. I actually decided to do something else entirely. Then I decided that a blog would be a good accompaniment to document my progress in the 'something else'. So what is this 'something else', you might ask?

I'm going to become better than Neil Reynolds at Neil Reynolds' job, then get his job.

Does that mean anything to you?

Neil Reynolds is the British pundit on Sky Sports' Sunday Night Football programme (NFL). And I'm going to take his job. Let me explain...

A few years ago, as a favour to my other half, my lovely fiancé, I had a team in an NFL fantasy league he, his brother and some friends were running. Basically they needed an extra person so that they had an even number in their league. I don't think they ever thought I'd actually be interested in it, but somehow I caught the bug, and have had a team every year since.

Let me make it really clear now: I don't actually know that much about NFL. I understand the basic rules (though get confused as to what exactly has happened when fouls are called), I know who some of the players are (though I can't usually remember their real teams as I just know whether they're in my fantasy team or not), and I've learned that some of the players have the most amazing names. D'Brickashaw, Ladanian, Ndamukong anyone? I'm used to looking at whether my players are doing well for me in our fantasy league, but sometimes have no idea whether they're doing well for their teams in real life.

I have come to love the sport though, and have been to the last few matches held at Wembley. My OH is really interested and is good at keeping up to date with the goings on, and I find it really fascinating. However, my OH does complain about the quality of NFL punditry (is that a word?) in the UK - Neil Reynolds presents with Kevin Cadle, and although he seems to know a lot about NFL to someone like me, my OH reckons that he's good for a Brit, but not really an expert. To be fair, to most Brits, you don't need someone with extensive knowledge, as most people in the UK know very little about American football. However, even I could have made the comment that Peyton Manning makes better throws when he has more time.

So today, I decided that what I really should do with my life is learn a lot about American football, become better than Neil Reynolds at his job, then get his job. And then I had the superb idea to create this blog to document my progress.

Here goes...