“In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line.” — George Carlin in Baseball vs. Football

Funny yes, but what does it all mean?

By looking at a football game, it seems so easy. The technical objective is to score more points than your opponent but really, it’s just to beat the crap out of all the other players on the field, sometimes including those on your own team! (Hard to tell who is who when everyone jumped in a big pile and your helmet is in the way!)

The other day, for research purposes, I decided to watch a game and ignore any football knowledge I have accumulated over the last decade or two. And, wow, it’s actually a pretty complex sport with lots of terms and rules and stuff that gave me a headache!

This is Part 1: Very Basic Terms to Know before attempting to read on let alone watch a game! I know that there are a lot technicalities within each term but I don’t want to confuse anyone. Namely, myself.

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