‘You will get fooled’: Key to nailing your NFL experience
Most football codes are reactive. You see the space, you exploit it, and the shape of the attack emerges as the play unfolds.
American football is the opposite.
San Francisco 49ers punter Corliss Waitman kicks the ball during a practice at the MCG. AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
Every play by the offence is designed in advance, then the ball is snapped. The defence is proactive too, setting its formation for what it thinks is coming.
That is why these players can memorise the equivalent of a phone book: plays, formations, checks and lingo, all recalled and executed in seconds.
It rarely breaks down at NFL level. When it does, you will see it, the coaches will wear it, and the commentators will tell you.
So, before the Los Angeles Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers at the MCG on Friday, here are a few tips to enjoy watching the game.
1. Socialise: The gaps are the best part
Up to 40 seconds between plays is not dead time; only the ball is dead. Chat it up with your mates and armchair quarterback this thing.
Why did that play work? Why didn’t it? Have the debate, then move on quickly to what matters more: what should the coach or coordinator call next?
Then, see if you nailed it or not. Rinse, lather, repeat. There will be banter!
2. No Longer Dead-on-Arrival: The kick off is worth watching again
It used to look a bit like rugby league and rugby union, and NCAA football still does. The NFL is different now. Coaches worked out that conceding territory beat the injury risk and the low odds of a big return, so everyone booted it long and the play became boring.
The dynamic kick off fixed that. The kicker kicks from his own 35, but his 10 teammates line up down at the opposition 40 and cannot move until the ball is touched or hits the ground.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy works out during practice. AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
At least nine blockers wait in a setup zone between the 30 and the 35. The landing zone is between the goal line and the 20: land it there and the ball is live and must be returned.
Kick it into the end zone on the full and the receiving team starts at its 35, which is a gift. Land it in the landing zone and let it roll into the end zone, and the touchback is only the 20. The safe option is now the expensive one.
3. Four downs, not four tackles
You get four attempts, called downs, to move the ball 10 yards. If you know the NRL you are most of the way there, because rugby league borrowed the idea from gridiron.
Bill Fallowfield put the four-tackle rule to the Rugby League International Board in 1966 and it passed unanimously. The trouble, as I have demonstrated elsewhere, is that four downs is not four tackles.
On the gridiron, three of the four are used to advance the ball and the fourth is usually a kick. Four tackles are really three downs. The 1972 move to six tackles is not four downs either; it is five. Not a perfect match but the concepts are mutually intelligible.
4. Watch the big men, not the ball
This may be the best tip I can give you. Gridiron is a game of deception and you will get fooled, as do the camera operators.
Watch the five offensive linemen at the snap. If their first step is forward, they are likely clearing a path for the halfback and it is most likely a run. If they step backwards, they are likely creating a semi circle around the quarterback, the pocket, to buy him time to pass. Still, you will be fooled.
5. Where the backs stand tells you plenty
Formations have names. In the "I", the backs stand in a straight line behind a quarterback taking the ball directly from the center. In the "shotgun", the quarterback stands well back for a longer snap with a running back beside him. The "pistol" is the shorter version, with the back behind him. The "ace" is like the I without the fullback.
The list is long and most never get used. It is its own form of tactical artistry.
6. Receivers run a route tree
Each number corresponds to a pattern the receiver runs. The quarterback is tasked with knowing every one of them, for every receiver, and delivering the coach's play. Too easy to watch and keep track of if you’re at the game.
If you’re not, you won’t be able to see this as much of it is out of the camera frame.
If you follow the AFL, you’ll know what this feels like all too well with lot of action off the ball.
7. Defence is not just ‘blitz!’
Count them. Three defensive linemen or four? Three linebackers or four? Are they in zone, where each defender covers an area, or man, where each defender covers an opponent?
Then the money comes on. A nickel defence pulls a linebacker for a fifth defensive back: five cents, five backs. A dime adds a sixth, because two nickels make a dime. Both trade bulk for speed and both say the same thing: we expect a pass.
