Portal:American football

The American Football Portal

American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or throwing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance the ball at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football game was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on the rules of soccer at the time. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone, and specified the size and shape of the football. The sport is closely related to Canadian football, which evolved in parallel with and at the same time as the American game, although its rules were developed independently from those of Camp. Most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are also present in Canadian football. The two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football.

American football is the most popular sport in the United States in terms of broadcast viewership audience. The most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2022^[update], nearly 1.04 million high-school athletes play the sport in the U.S., with another 81,000 college athletes in the NCAA and the NAIA. The National Football League (NFL) has one of the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, ranks among the most-watched club sporting events globally. In 2022, the league had an annual revenue of around $18.6 billion, making it the most valuable sports league in the world. Other professional and amateur leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball; the sport maintains a growing following in the rest of North America, Europe, Brazil, and Japan.

Unlike most other ball sports, like basketball, baseball, and soccer, players of American football are not expected to play both offense and defense- usually, each player is assigned to either offense or defense, not both. As such, each individual player usually only plays for, at most, about half of the game. In modern professional American football, it is very rare, although not unheard of, for players to play both offense and defense. Players who play on both sides of the ball are more common in high school and college football. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Recognized content - show another

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

The ACC Championship Game is an annual American college football game held in early December by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) each year to determine its football champion. From its inception in 2005 to 2019, and from 2021 to 2022, the game pit the champion of the Coastal Division against the champion of the Atlantic Division in a game that follows the conclusion of the regular season. However, since the 2023 title game, the ACC no longer sends the Atlantic and Coastal champions to meet in Charlotte. Now, the divisions are gone and the top 2 ACC teams with the best conference record will battle it out. The current champions, the Clemson Tigers, defeated the SMU Mustangs after the 2024 regular season concluded.

The Atlantic Division was represented by either Clemson or Florida State in twelve of fifteen years through 2019, including eleven straight from 2009 to 2019, and five straight by Clemson from 2015 to 2019. The Coastal Division was represented by either Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech for the first eight games from 2005 to 2012, but from 2013 to 2019 all seven Coastal teams each represented the division after Virginia won in 2019. North Carolina State and Syracuse have yet to make an appearance. Clemson in 2018 became the first team to win four consecutive ACC Championship Games, on the heels of FSU winning three straight. The Tigers then extended the record to five straight titles in 2019 and six straight in 2020. They were dethroned in 2021 when the Pittsburgh Panthers beat Wake Forest and won the game. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

General images

The following are images from various American football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy (from History of American football)
Image 21906 St. Louis Post-Dispatch photograph of Brad Robinson, who threw the first legal forward pass and was the sport's first triple threat (from History of American football)
Image 31897 Latrobe Athletic Association football team: The first entirely professional team to play an entire season. (from History of American football)
Image 4Jim Thorpe was the first president of the NFL. (from History of American football)
Image 5Diagram of a Canadian football field (from Canadian football)
Image 6The Big Game between Stanford and California was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914 (from History of American football)
Image 7Inside the original structure in 2008 (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 8Don Hutson in 1940. (from History of American football)
Image 9Footballs and a helmet at a Calgary Stampeders (CFL) team practice (from Canadian football)
Image 10Indoor Football League (from Arena football)
Image 11A football signed by the 1974 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement class (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 12Colorado's first football team in 1890 (from History of American football)
Image 13A game between the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Atoms and First Canadian Army Red and Blue Bombers, in Utrecht, Netherlands, October 1945 (from Canadian football)
Image 14The Hall is made up of several sections with display of the inductees at its heart (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 15A game between the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders, 1910 (from Canadian football)
Image 16Sewanee's 1899 "Iron Men" (from History of American football)
Image 17A Native American college football team (from History of American football)
Image 18Tom Davies of Pittsburgh runs against undefeated and unscored upon Georgia Tech in the 1918 game at Forbes Field (from History of American football)
Image 19Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario (from Canadian football)
Image 20Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", pictured here in 1878 as the captain of the Yale University football team (from History of American football)
Image 21Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 93rd Grey Cup game at BC Place (November 2005) (from Canadian football)
Image 22Morgan Athletic Club (pictured c. 1900), predecessor of the Arizona Cardinals (from History of American football)
Image 23Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium with the Hall of Fame in lower right (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 24Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (gold jerseys with black accents) vs. Triangle Torch (black jerseys with red and yellow accents) play an American Indoor Football game at Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 25, 2016 (from Arena football)
Image 25An early American football team, from the turn of the twentieth century (from History of American football)
Image 261902 football game between the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan (from History of American football)
Image 27An arena football goalpost structure featuring the rebound nets on either side of the uprights. (from Arena football)
Image 28Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, originally built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, pictured in 2005. (from Canadian football)
Image 29Hanged U-shaped Continental Indoor Football League goalpost (from Arena football)
Image 30Sign at the old entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 31A moment of the second game between Tufts and Harvard at College Hill, October 1875 (from History of American football)
Image 32Original entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 33One of the two Harvard vs. McGill games played in 1874 (from History of American football)
Image 34High school football stadium in Manhattan, Kansas (from History of American football)
Image 35A modern down indicator box is mounted on a pole and is used to mark the current line of scrimmage. The number on the marker is changed using a dial. (from Canadian football)

Selected image

Mercedes-Benz Superdome

Credit: J. Glover

The Mercedes-Benz Superdome (originally Louisiana Superdome and commonly The Superdome) is a multi-purpose dome-covered stadium and arena comprising, as regards American football, a FieldTurf playing field, situated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

Selected biography - show another

Luckman, circa 1950

Sidney Luckman (November 21, 1916 – July 5, 1998) was an American professional football quarterback who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1939 through 1950. During his 12 seasons with the Bears, he led them to four NFL championships in 1940, 1941, 1943, and 1946.

Sportswriter Ira Berkow wrote that Luckman was "the first great T-formation quarterback", and he is considered the greatest long-range passer of his time. He was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1943. Luckman was also a 3× NFL All-Star (1940–1942), 5× First-team All-Pro (1941–1944, 1947), 2× Second-team All-Pro (1940, 1946), 3× NFL passing yards leader (1943, 1945, and 1946), 3× NFL passing touchdowns leader (1943, 1945, and 1946), 3× NFL passer rating leader (1941, 1943, and 1946), named to the NFL 1940s All-Decade team, had his No. 42 retired by the Bears, and tied the NFL record of 7 touchdown passes in a game. To date, Luckman still holds the all-time NFL record for touchdown percentage, at 7.9 percent. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

Calendar

2023 season: NFL • NCAA FBS (Bowl games)
Jan 8	College Football National Championship: #1 Michigan vs #2 Washington
Jan 13-15	NFL: Wild Cards
Jan 20-21	NFL: Divisional games
Jan 28	NFL: Conference games
Feb 4	NFL: Pro Bowl Games
Feb 11	NFL: Super Bowl LVIII

Selected quote

“

You don't have to win it, just don't lose it.

”

— Ray Lewis

The american middle linebacker, to Elvis Grbac, upon the latter's assuming, in 2001, the starting quarterback position for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League, in view of the Ravens' emphasis on defence and after the team had conceded just 165 points across its sixteen 2001 regular season games, fewer than had any other team in single season, en route to the Super Bowl XXXV title