Can anyone explain American Football to me?

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I've been playing a lot of console games, just for the heck of it, and tried so!e American Football games. I don't get them at all. Every time the ball drops a menu comes up with over a dozen choices of what look like formation strategies, what are they all about? Generally speaking how does a team win in the game?

It's just another form of guys trying to prove their manliness by pulverizing each other. I think you score points the quickest by running all the way to the end of the field without getting trampled (aka touchdown), points can also be scored by kicking it between the goalposts but slower. It's been a while though.

One thing I did notice though, football players usually age really badly. I had several gym teachers in high school who were retired football players and really overweight.

It is a barbaric sport. The head injuries are notorious.

American football allows you to pass the ball forward if you don't pass the line of scrimmage. A good team will run with the ball half the time and throw it the other half. If the other team catches the ball they get to keep it.

Oh definitely. I followed it when I was a teenager because I thought I had to to fit in, now I could care less about it. I think the reason American football players wear helmets and rugby players don't is your chance of getting sued in the US is a lot higher, just my theory anyway.

Both should be banned in my opinion as well as boxing and heading the ball in soccer. There is a lot of evidence linking sport related head injuries to dementia and brain damage.

BTDT, that helps me understand a bit. But I still don't get why in the video games of American football I have to a select from over a dozen strategies each time the ball has been tackled. Why can't I just start playing again? Also I don't understand which strategy to choose or how I am supposed to control the players to implement it. Also the ref in the game I was playing blew his whistle and said "improper pass" and stopped play. I didn't understand why that was either. I think I really need a detailed explanation of how the game is played but don't feel obliged to tell me. It no doubt would be time consuming.

Yes, there is a ton of rules with American Football. As bad as golf.

Completely agreed. There's so many safer but equally intense options to get your movement in, like running.

The closest sport you're likely familiar with is rugby, unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with rugby to translate directly!

In American football, points are scored one of three ways: touchdown (and extra point(s)), field goal, or safety. A touchdown consists of having possession of the ball in the opposing team's end zone for 6 points. After a touchdown, the scoring team attempts either an extra point (short field goal) or "goes for two" (a single play attempt to score a second touchdown for 2 pts). A field goal, kicking the ball through the goalposts, is worth three. A safety is a (rare) defensive play, tackling the ball carrier of the offense in their own end zone, is worth 2 points. After each scoring play, the ball is kicked off by the previous offense, as at the beginning of each half.

Unlike most field sports, AF takes place in discrete "plays". When the ball carrier is tackled, forward progress is stopped, or a forward pass is incomplete, the play ends and the teams reset. The offense has 4 plays (downs) in which to gain 10 yards, resetting whenever they accomplish that goal. If they fail to achieve the "first down marker" they turn the ball over to the opposition. Since doing so close to your own end zone would virtually guarantee a score for the opposing team, you have the option to punt (kicking the ball away to the opposing team) on 4th down or attempt a field goal if you are within ~30-40 yards of the endzone.

The formation selections that you see are both formations (different arrangements of personnel) and plays (receiver routes, blocking patterns, etc.). The main variation is between running and passing plays, but the variety among them is pretty important as well, short passing routes are easier to pull off, but generally don't get extra distance, long plays take time to develop, but can be more "explosive". Runs keep the defense from falling back into extra coverage or blitzing too often.

Defensively, there are two type of coverage on the receivers: man or zone. The linebackers (usually covering the running backs/ quarterback) may stay in coverage or blitz (rush) the quarterback. Assignments can also be shuffled allowing a greater variety of plays.

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Also E-A-G-L-E-S spells "Iggles!" (Finally, a great year to be a fan!)

That is an excellent explanation! Thank you.

I would like to know why it's called "football." I mean as far as I know the players carry the ball in their arms, don't they? Do they do anything with their feet other than run? If they don't then why is it called football?

They kick the ball and they have to catch it and run with it and toss it to other players to get it to the goal.

most points wins.

A bunch of fat muscular guys run around with a big, brown, pointy egg and bump into each other on purpose.

I coach American Football at a high school in Colorado. Although it is not my favorite sport, it is fascinating from an ASD perspective.

One thing I do (as a general survival technique) is study genres, patterns, and tendencies. Being successful as a coach depends on my ability to understand and out-guess my opponent. As someone that coaches quarterbacks, ASD allows met to read and visualize a defense, overlay the plays that we can execute effectively, and select correctly the play that will be most effective.

My teams do many things to disguise who has the ball, and one of my favorite things to hear an opponent say is "where is the ball?"

A coach that is a mentor to me is Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots. I've never heard anyone say it, but I suspect that he has some Autistic tendencies. His success as a coach has a lot to do with thinking differently about how the game is played and the type of guys you want to play for you. For example, arguably the most successful quarterback in the NFL history is Tom Brady. When he was drafted in 2000, other teams felt there were 198 better players that year. His best receiver, Julian Edelman, was selected 232nd and was a college quarterback that played defense and returned kicks before becoming an elite receiver.

NFL Films "A Football Life" is a good primer.

It's got more to do with how they tackle, at least at this point. American (and Canadian) football players often lead with their head, which is quite different from how I learned to tackle in rugby.