Beginners Guide to American Football

This is a beginner's guide to professional football using film from NFL games to help you understand. As an English teacher, I believe in "can do" statements to make sure we have specific goals and that you understand everything fully. I tried to make this as simple as possible and I'm always available for questions.

football is like chess combined with violence. Maybe you've thought that "it's just a bunch of guys running into each other", but it's so much more and you'll see.

Our class won't be getting deep into strategy, but our journey will familiarize you with all the basics. This includes...

-examining the structure of a game from beginning to end

-developing an understanding of what the positions are on offense and defense and their responsibilities

-what things a team can be penalized for and how it influences a game

-how to use and understand the proper terms to describe what's happening on the field

-how to read a box score so that you can understand the terms and statistics. This won't be a stats course, but they are used only to introduce terms and things you'll see on the field

You will see actual game footage to describe the different aspects of this course and you'll get quizzes to test what you've learned and watched. By the end of this course, you'll be able to check off everything in the "can do" checklist in the introduction and more.

Once you have these essential tools, it will develop you into a self learner. After this course you'll be able to understand more than enough to keep on in your learning and enjoyment.