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| | What has been a television institution for over 35 years in the United States, Monday Night Football will be moving from ABC and heading to ESPN. Monday Night Football will be on ESPN beginning with the 2006 season. The NFL will head to NBC for the first time in six years as well. The NFL has been a ratings draw for many years.
American Football rules:
Basic rules for initial down:
Nobody can cross the line of attack before the ball is kicked.
The ball must go at least 10 yards before the kicking team could touch it.
If a defense player catches the ball in end zone and remains in it or the ball is out of the field through the end zone, the receiving team will resume the play from the 20-yard mark (the so-called touchback).
If the ball goes over the sideline before anyone touches it, then a foul is declared and the receiving team starts the down from the 40-yard mark.
Main types of initial downs:
The long shot is the most common type. The kicking team tries to kick the ball as far as possible so that the receiving team has a fair amount of distance to reach the end zone of the opponent.
The squib kick – the shot, in which the ball is low, bouncing on the ground. It is used in situations, when the fast players of the receiving team are capable of returning the ball along the ground and earn a touchdown. The kicking team sacrifices the position on field but falls into the hands of slower players.
The onside kick is a kick, in which the kicker hits the ball into the ground so that the ball travels the minimum distance (10 yards) and falls into the hands of the kicking team. This type of kick is typically used in critical situations, when the kicking team is lagging behind points-wise at the end of play and needs to have the possession of the ball either to level the score or win the game. If the receiving team gets the ball, it finds itself in an excellent position for launching the attack - usually on the opponent’s side of the field.
Basic rules while knocking the ball with the hands – Punt:
The offense player can not attack the punter when the ball is not in possession of the punter.
The receiving team can receive the ball and try to return it back. In this case, the punter is stopped as if he is the offense player.
The punter signals that he is not trying to return the ball by waving his hand over his head. In this case, the down is over when the ball is received and the kicking team has no right to touch the receiving team’s player.
The punter does not receive the ball. In this case, the ball is placed at the spot, where it went out-of-field or where the ball was touched by the kicking team.
If the ball hits end zone (or crosses the end zone line in college or school football), the receiving team launches the attack from the 20-yard mark, the so called “touchback”.
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