What is The NFL?

Figure 1This is the NFL logo. Photo courtesy of pixabay.

You’re at one of your friend’s houses, and you notice people huddled around the living room television cheering in excitement and shouting in anger. You overhear a commentator saying “The NFL on FOX will return in 30 seconds.” You wonder about this NFL on FOX and why it has people acting this way. This applies to those may have seen the NFL activities taking place and wondering what it does. So, I want to introduce the NFL to those who need it. The NFL has great aspects to enjoy, so I want others to know about them and engage if they wish to.

If you’re questioning what the NFL brings to sports, you might not know much or not know anything about American football. If that statement holds any truth, I will provide you with a quick broad description of this before I describe the NFL. Then, I will briefly talk about the different levels of football play, then define the NFL.

The sport, American football, holds a high place of popularity among American people. The game consists of four 15-minute quarters with a halftime in between after the second quarter. Two teams of 11 people line up against each other on a field a little over 100 yards.

Players have to run or throw with a pigskin, oval-shaped object, the football, against each other and try to score points for offense. Teams either score a field goal (three points), a touchdown (seven points), and an extra point after a touchdown (one point) which a kicker kicking the ball through a goal post. The goal post has a vertical pole on the left and right sides attached to one small horizontal pole under them with a smaller vertical pole at the bottom of them, serving as the base.

For defense, each team tries to stop the offense from scoring points. However, the defense can also try to score touchdowns when presented the chance. They can also score a safety (two points). They do this by tackling the offense inside the offense’s end zone.

The team with the most points at the end of the fourth quarter wins the game. However, if a tie ends the fourth quarter, teams go into overtime. I believe that if the tie still remains at the end of this period, the teams will now have a tie on their record.

The sport has players in the following levels: little league (children), high school (teenagers), college (young adults) and professional (adults).

The NFL serves as one of the professional leagues of American football. By popular opinion, people think of it as the best American football league.

Known as the National Football League, the NFL consists of 32 teams. Players and coaches meet up around June to start preseason training. In the preseason, there are also four preseason games to prepare for the regular season.

In the regular season, there are now 17 games played, previously 16. At the end of these games, the teams with best records will advance to the playoffs. A major factor in what teams earn playoff spots also resides in who wins their respective divisions, such as the NFC North, South, East, West, and AFC North, South, East, and West.

On Google, the NFC North includes these teams: Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, and Detroit Lions. The South includes the following: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, and Atlanta Falcons. For the East, it includes the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, The Washington Football Team, and New York Giants. The West includes the Los Angeles Rams, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, and the Seattle Seahawks.

Also on Google, the AFC North includes these teams: Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, and Cleveland Browns. The South has the Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans. For the East, the teams are the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, and New York Jets. The West includes the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Denver Broncos.

In each conference, I believe there are the wildcard, divisional, conference championship games in the playoffs. The teams that win their conference championships will earn the opportunity to play in and win the Super Bowl, the championship of the entire league.

The team that wins the Super Bowl will receive the famous Lombardi Trophy, named after famous former 20th century Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi. Members of the winning team will also receive customized rings to celebrate and remember their great achievement.

For fans, the importance of this lies in the special bragging rights they get when their team wins. As I said earlier in my introduction and have shown in other parts of this, the NFL consists of factors that people can enjoy, the NFL holds importance due to this.

So, the next time you are at your friends’ house, you will not feel like the lone wolf in the room. You’ll at least have some idea about the situation going on.

For those interested, tune in to the games the NFL hosts on television. Normally, one game takes place on Monday and Thursday at 8:15 p.m. Sometimes there are Saturday games held in London in the morning. Mostly, games are held on a Sunday from 1 p.m. to 8:20 p.m.

For those with cable, you can also tune in to the NFL Network channel. It will provide you with news on teams, players, coaches and anyone else part of an organization.