This Sunday the grand final of the NFL, the Super Bowl LV. The game, which faces the champions of the national conference and the American conference, attracts new fans each year who are interested in American football. In order to understand how it works and to follow the development of the game, it is preferable to know a series of basic rules.
• Duration of a match: An NFL game consists of four quarters of 15 minutes each. It is not running time since the clock stops depending on the plays.
• A team must have 11 players on the field, although each team can consist of 45 players. There are players who make up the defensive, offensive or special teams.
• Punctuation system: The move with the highest score is the touchdown: The ball reaches the end zone of the opposing team (running or by passing). The team that achieves it adds 6 points and then you have the option of shooting for sticks (one additional point) or looking for the conversion of two points: the team that has scored stands at the two-yard line and will attempt to re-enter the end zone to score two additional points. Converting a field goal (kick to sticks) is 3 points. Finally they can also be added 2 points through a safety: the attacking player is tackled within his own end zone.
• Attack operation: An attack sequence is made up of first downs: The attacking team has four attempts to advance ten yards. By the time he gets these ten (or more yards) he has four more attempts to get ten more yards from the point where the player has been tackled. If these four attempts are exhausted, the ball automatically passes to the opposing team.
. Penalties and yellow bandanas: Referees are vigilant before the snap (when the ball is put into play) and during the play that no infractions occur. In case of committing any, they throw a yellow handkerchief on the grass and at the end of the play they explain the signaling and the corresponding penalty.
• Tiebreaker: Here the rules vary depending on whether it is a regular season game or a playoff game. In both cases, if at the end of the match there is a tie, an extra time of 15 minutes will be played. Each team must have a turn to attack, unless the first team to attack (chosen by flipping a coin) scores a touchdown. If the tie is maintained at the end of the fifteen minutes, in the regular season the game would end in a tie, not in the playoffs. In this case, another extra time would be played.
