Some things I'm trying to get up on before the superbowl... I'm a novice at this game so I really don't know a great deal.

1) Special teams - when there's a punt or a kick, do the players that come on ONLY come on the field for this point in the game? For instance, do NFL teams have a guy whose job it is ONLY to punt the ball, his entire career is coming on to catch a ball and boot it miles upfield? Obviously I know the guys who kick for extra points and field goals are specialists, but what about the centre who snaps it back a long way for the kicker, and the guy who catches the ball for the kicker? Do they ONLY do that job as well? If so, how do you get into doing that I mean, when you start playing football, what would make you decide to be the guy whose job it is to punt, or to catch the ball and place it for the kicker, and what would make anybody better than anyone else at those jobs?

Also, is the guy who returns the punts a wide receiver when the team is on offence, or does he just do that job?

2) Do any players play multiple positions? Are there guys at the line of scrimmage who sometimes play on offence or defence? I remember that guy who played for dallas a few years back, dion sanders I think, who used to play as a wide receiver but also did some defence stuff too (cornerback)?

3) How many quarterbacks does a team have? Presumably as it's so specialised and important there'd be a large number of them to cover for injuries. Has there ever been a case where a player from another position has come in to play quarterback due to an injury crisis?

4) What stats tell you who is a better kicker? Other than just kick success percentage? Because I guess if you're on a good team, you'll kick a lot of extra points (easy) and not too many 80-yard fieldgoals and so your percentage would be higher, is there a stat that takes that into account?

5) I know each quarter is (I think) 15 mins, but sometimes the clock is running when the scrimmage is lining up, and sometimes it's stopped. I know it stops when someone runs the ball into touch, but other than that what determines if the clock is stopped or not?

6) You can only pass the ball forwards once, right, but what about backwards? Has nobody tried some technique such as throwing it to a receiver, and having a supporting player running drag behind them so the guy on the ball ships it back if he gets tackled, rugby style?

7) I know that teams on defense have a front line, and then linebackers behind who try to burst through and sack the QB. How do they decide whether to have 4 at the front and 3 at the back, or vice versa? Obviously the quarterbakc controls the offence, but who is the team leader on the defence, or are they more or less just reacting to what the offence do individually?

8) how is the draft order determined in the NFL? Much the same as MBL and NBA?

9) This is only the 40th superbowl - what did they play for before that?

10) it's the Vince Lombardi trophy - he was an old manager of Green Bay, right? Was there a trophy before that, and when (and why) did it become the Lombardi trophy?

Thanks, Yanks!

Monk

6) a backwards pass is called a lateral, and is treated as a pitch. if you miss it, it's a fumble not an incomplete pass. as for the "running drag" idea, it is often employed in a desperation situation on kickoff returns with no time left -- and it's really fun to watch. there are also some plays (e.g., the hook and ladder) in which a player catches the ball and pitches it back to another player.

the reason why these plays are not common in football is due to the value of possession. one case in point is reggie bush's disaster attempt at this type of play in the rose bowl (college natialnal championship game this year). that play was without a doubt the difference. i'll let someone else fill in the details if you're interested (really got to get to work).

i'll leave 7, 8, and 10 to someone else.

9) they had separate leagues and league championships.

So, when a team is in possession and losing with time running out, and there's no passing option, the QB will throw out of bounds intentionally to stop the clock rather than get sacked, right?

7) Most teams play a 4-3 defense which means there are 4 lineman and 3 linebackers. Only 3 or 4 teams play a 3-4 and the Steelers are the best team in history at playing a 3-4. Theyve done it for ever and have the correct players for it. They draft linebackers out of college that probably wouldnt make it on another team because they are to small to play a 4-3, but are perfect for a 3-4. They have speed and ferocity but usually lack size. You need different type players to play the different schemes so you rarely go back and forth. Your defensive coordinator decided which defense he will play and he drafts and / or trades for the players to play it.

In a 4-3, the linebackers rarely blitz. The lineman will have more sacks. The defensive ends rush the passer and try to sack him.

In a 3-4, there is no defensive end per se. The lineman try to occupy the offensive lineman as the linebackers rush from all angles (usually the outside LBs)


8) Team with worst record drafts 1st

9) There was one football league and they played their season and chamionships. Then another league was formed to compete. Eventually the 2 league leaders started playing a chamionpship game which was called the SuperBowl. Over the years team have been moved and realligned, but basically the AFC and the NFC used to be the seperate leagues which were called the NFL and AFL at that time.

10) I dont believe there was a name other than the championship trophy.

Just a few random points.

There has never been an 80-yard field goal, and I'm sure nobody has even tried it. The longest was 63. (The first guy to hit a 63-yarder kicked it with half a foot, kind of an astonishing story to those of us who are too young to remember that player.) The record before his kick had been 56 yards. Even attempting a field goal from 60+ is really rare.

Punters do occasionally have to make tackles. They have to have good hands and pretty quick feet to get the punt away without being blocked. And they do have to have some accuracy with their kicks. It's not the toughest job in the world, but it does pay $500K so if anybody could do it I'm sure there would be a lot more good punters around. There just aren't. Some teams even use high round draft picks to grab someone who looks like a really good punter.

The team leader on defense is usually (almost always??) the middle linebacker (or an inside linebacker on a 3-4 team). He normally stands near the middle and can see everything and be heard most easily by his teammates. Defenses run plays just like offenses, and like offenses they are called in the huddle prior to the play, with the defensive captain calling out adjustments right before the play starts, depending on what he sees from the offense. Some of the different plays (or "coverages" or "schemes") on defense you'll hear about when you listen to broadcasts, including "Cover 2" and "zone" and "man to man" defenses, as well as all sorts of blitzes -- run blitzes, zone blitzes, corner blitzes, etc. A blitz (in all its forms) is just bringing a player (or more) who normally plays back (linebacker, safety, or cornerback) running past the line of scrimmage, usually to try to sack the quarterback or tackle the runner for a loss.

Gosh, this is fun. Thanks for asking!

To expand on the 3-4 vs 4-3 stuff that Ice posted:

Bill Belichick was one of the early 'masters' of the 3-4 with the Giants teams of the early-mid 80s. The 3-4 requires you to have some incredibly fast and strong outside linebackers, and a nose tackle that can play both A gaps (the gaps between the center and guards). The job of the nose and DTs (defensive tackles - the guys on the line on either side of the nose) is really to fill in the gaps and occupy the linemen to keep them off the linebackers. The linebackers are supposed to make the vast majority of the stops in the 3-4. The use of a strong, fast OLB (outside linebacker) primarily as a pass rusher (what Lawrence Taylor did for most of his career) did not start until the 3-4 came around. Being able to line up a little more outside and off the line gives a better athlete more diverse ways to get around/through an offensive lineman.

In the 4-3, the middle linebacker is far and away the MAN. The job of the DL is to protect their gaps and keep guards off the MLB, funnelling plays to the middle for him to make the tackle. Guys like Urlacher and Ray Lewis, plus Singletary and Butkus before them always made tons of tackles, but with a weak D line they'd be nothing.

The 3-4 is generally better against the short passing game than the 4-3, since you'll have 8 potential cover guys vs 7 in the 4-3. It also can protect against the outside running game better than the 4-3, but the reverse is true in that it's usually harder to run between the tackles against the 4-3.

In youth ball, up to about the college level, you rarely see a successful 3-4 or 4-3 defense. Most teams run a 5 or 6 man line because you just don't have the level of athlete required to pull off anything else.