Football 201: Offensive Power

If you think about it, the most obvious thing a team on offense can do to move the ball down the field is to have the "snapper" (actually commonly called the "center") snap the ball to a teammate who simply runs towards the goal, with teammates blocking a path for him/her. A play without a forward pass is simply called a "running play".

I say it's the most obvious thing to do because:

1. A running play involves as few people as possible handling the ball (a minimum of two), minimizing the risk of dropping (or "fumbling") the ball.
2. The other team won't have a chance to "intercept" a pass -- a passed football can be caught by either team.
3. Running plays use up more time than passing plays which means that the team with the ball keeps possession of the ball. If you are successful with your running plays and you use up a lot of time, the other team won't have as many chances to score. In fact in some games where one team is very successful at running the ball they may have possession of the ball for 45 minutes out of the hour that's played!
4. Running the ball well implies that your team is successfully manhandling the other team. It is psychologically very discouraging for the defense to realize that they're simply not as strong.

Therefore it makes sense that if a football team was guaranteed to gain at least three yards on every running play (remember--they need to get at least ten yards in four attempts), they would definitely do so on every play.

In fact, until about eighty years ago, this is pretty much what all football teams did.

Of course the only problem with this strategy is that there's another team across the line of scrimmage waiting to tackle the runner before he/she goes very far. Three yards doesn't seem like it's much unless you suddenly have a group of really big guys in front of you trying to knock you down..

So, what's an offense to do?

Blocking:

The first thing a team does is to figure out a way to block the other team--to create an open path (by physically pushing the other team away) for the runner to go through. Blocking is really what maining separates football from its cousin rugby.

"Linemen": While everyone on the team blocks, there are certain players on the field who are blocking specialists. They're usually big and strong; in fact the bigger and stronger the better. These blocking specialists are called the "linemen" (so named because on every play they crouch down close to the ball, on the line of scrimmage).

As football developed in the nineteenth century and blocking became the centerpiece of the American and Canadian versions of the game (blocking is not legal in rugby or soccer--ancestors of American football) it was decided that these "linemen" would focus entirely on blocking. In most organized leagues linemen pretty much block and only block. Their job is so important to American football that it's not legal for them to catch a pass, (although they can technically run with the ball or catch a backwards pass). On a standard team of eleven offensive players, five players are considered offensive linemen and are deemed "ineligible" to catch a forward pass.

-- Linemen --

(the Center is the one holding the ball, about to snap it)

Running backs:

Anyone can run with the football, but there are specialists for this task--commonly referred to these days as "running backs". Running backs are usually either extremely strong--so that they are hard to tackle once caught, or are extremely elusive--so that they are hard to even catch at all. Most running backs have both of these features -- strength and agility -- making them some of the best all around athletes on the field.

That said, the very best running back in the world will be generally unsuccessful if his/her linemen are not doing their job.

A running back running through an opening created by his linemen