1.
Hamburg Sea Devils
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The Hamburg Sea Devils were an American football team that played in NFL Europa from 2005 to 2007. They played their games at Hamburgs AOL Arena. They played their first game on April 2,2005 losing 24–23 to the Cologne Centurions, the Sea Devils very first ever win came in Week 3 of the 2005 season, with a 31–24 home victory over the then-struggling Rhein Fire. Their first head coach was Jack Bicknell, previously coach of the defunct Barcelona Dragons. The Sea Devils had directly replaced the Claymores after the 2004 season, on April 1,2006, the Sea Devils recorded first tie in franchise history. At home, they scored 17 points in the second quarter and they had blown their 17-point lead before regulation ended. When no one scored in overtime, the game ended in a draw and this was only the second tie in the NFL Europa history. The previous tie came in the 1992 season between the Rhein Fire and the London Monarchs, the final score for that game was also 17–17. On March 29,2007, Bicknell resigned, citing health issues as the reason and he was replaced by offensive coordinator Vince Martino. On June 23,2007, the Sea Devils won their first World Bowl championship with a 37–28 victory over the defending champion Frankfurt Galaxy and it was also their last, as NFL Europa disbanded almost immediately following the game. As a result, the Sea Devils are the last team to win a WLAF/NFL Europe/NFL Europa game ever, the Sea Devils were brought to American media attention again on July 14,2007, when 2006 team member Mike Jemison was arrested in Pennsylvania for robbery. Previously Thomas Herrion, an offensive tackle allocated to the team by the San Francisco 49ers, current Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Brent Grimes also played for the Sea Devils
2.
Team sport
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A team sport includes any sport which involves two or more players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in individuals are organized into opposing teams which compete to win. Examples are basketball, volleyball, water polo, handball, lacrosse, cricket, baseball, Team sports are practiced between opposing teams, where the players interact directly and simultaneously between them to achieve an objective. The objective generally involves teammates facilitating the movement of a ball or similar object in accordance with a set of rules, in order to score points. However, other types of team sports do not involve teammates facilitating the movement of a ball or similar item in accordance with a set of rules, for example, swimming, rowing, sailing, dragon boat racing, and track and field among others are also team sports. In other types of team sports there may not be a team or point scoring, for example. Instead of points scored against a team, the relative difficulty of the climb or walk is the measure of the achievement. In some sports where participants are entered by a team, they do not only compete against members of other teams, for example, motorsport, particularly Formula One. This process is known as team orders and although previously accepted was banned in Formula One between 2002 and 2010, after a controversy involving team orders at the 2010 German Grand Prix however, the regulation was removed as of the 2011 season. Organized sports in athletics, started in Greece in 796 BC, is recorded up to 393 BC and these games, which are Olympic games, were a form to test the skills of warriors, consisted of running, jumping or leaping, wrestling, and javelin throw. In the Bayankhongor Province of Mongolia cave paintings dating back to Neolithic age of 7000 BC depict a wrestling match surrounded by crowds, cave paintings of the Prehistoric times in Japan show a sport similar to sumo wrestling. In Wadi Sura, near Gilf Kebir in Libya, Neolithic in the cave of swimmers shows evidence of swimming in a rock painting, the name athletes is derived from Aethelius, the King of Elis in Olympia, Greece. Before the start of the gods were invoked by offering of mostly fruits. The winner of the race was crowned with a wreath of olive or laurel, in subsequent years monetary attractions were introduced as prize money. However, the practice of offering celery sticks is still in vogue in the 100 m sprint in the Olympics, the present pattern of Olympic Games is akin to the practice followed in the ancient days. The 200 m sprint is known in Greek as short foot race, the 400 m race is equivalent to two stades and called Diaulos in Greek. With the advent of computer gaming and the Internet, Esports which is in vogue for quite a few years was recorded in October 1972 as a video game. A Space war tournament was organized by Stanford University which was titled Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics with an offering of one-year subscription to Rolling Stone
3.
Canadian football
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In Canada, the term football may refer to Canadian football and American football collectively, or to either sport specifically, depending on context. The two sports have shared origins and are related but have significant differences. Rugby football in Canada originated in the early 1860s, and over time, active teams such as the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats have similar longevity. The CFL is the most popular and only major professional Canadian football league and its championship game, the Grey Cup, is one of Canadas largest sporting events, attracting a broad television audience, though it has been shrinking in recent years. In 2009, about 40% of Canadas population watched part of the game, in 2014, it was closer to 33%, great achievements in Canadian football are enshrined in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame located in Hamilton, Ontario. Other organizations across Canada perform senior league Canadian football during the summer, the first documented football match was a practice game played on November 9,1861, at University College, University of Toronto. One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was Sir William Mulock, a football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear. The first written account of a game played was on October 15,1862 and it was between the First Battalion Grenadier Guards and the Second Battalion Scots Fusilier Guards resulting in a win by the Grenadier Guards 3 goals,2 rouges to nothing. In 1864, at Trinity College, Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland, Frederick A. Bethune, the game gradually gained a following, with the Hamilton Football Club formed on November 3,1869. Montreal formed a team April 8,1872, Toronto was formed on October 4,1873, and this rugby-football soon became popular at Montreals McGill University. McGill challenged Harvard University to a game, in 1874 using a game of English rugby devised by the University of McGill. Later both the Ontario and Quebec Rugby Football Union were formed, and then the Interprovincial and Western Interprovincial Football Union, the CRFU reorganized into an umbrella organization forming the Canadian Rugby Union in 1891. The original forerunners to the current Canadian Football League, was established in 1956 when the IRFU and WIFU formed an umbrella organization, and then in 1958 the CFC left The CRFU to become the CFL. The Burnside rules closely resembling American football that were incorporated in 1903 by The ORFU, was an effort to distinguish it from a more rugby-oriented game, the rules were an attempt to standardize the rules throughout the country. The CIRFU, QRFU and CRU refused to adopt the new rules at first, the primary differences between the Canadian and American games stem from rule changes that the American side of the border adopted but the Canadian side did not. The Canadian field width was one rule that was not based on American rules, as the Canadian game was played in wider fields, initially an amateur competition, it eventually became dominated by professional teams in the 1940s and early 1950s. The Ontario Rugby Football Union, the last amateur organization to compete for the trophy, the move ushered in the modern era of Canadian professional football. Canadian football has mostly been confined to Canada, with the United States being the other country to have hosted high-level Canadian football games
4.
American football
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The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, or else they turn over the football to the opposing team, if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the teams end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponents goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins, American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football. The first game of American football was played on November 6,1869, during the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States, Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of the game, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually, almost all of them men, in the United States, American football is referred to as football. The term football was established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season. The terms gridiron or American football are favored in English-speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, American football evolved from the sports of association football and rugby football. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6,1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams, the game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides, Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19,1873 to create a set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet were specified, Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. An 1875 Harvard-Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes and these players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to selling refrigerators to Eskimos. Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Columbia then agreed to play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1879, the introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position, however, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, both teams in a game between Yale-Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records, each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 0-0 tie
5.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
6.
Rugby league
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Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field. One of the two codes of football, it originated in England in 1895 as a split from the Rugby Football Union over the issue of payments to players. Its rules gradually changed with the aim of producing a faster, in rugby league, points are scored by carrying the ball and touching it to the ground beyond the opposing teams goal line, this is called a try, and is the primary method of scoring. The opposing team attempts to stop the side scoring points by tackling the player carrying the ball. In addition to tries, points can be scored by kicking goals, after each try, the scoring team gains a free kick to try at goal with a conversion for further points. Kicks at goal may also be awarded for penalties, and field goals can be attempted at any time. Rugby league is a sport in Northern England, the states of Queensland and New South Wales in Australia, New Zealand. The European Super League and Australasian National Rugby League are the club competitions. Rugby league is played internationally, predominantly by European, Australasian and Pacific Island countries, the first Rugby League World Cup was held in France in 1954, the current holders are Australia. The first of these, the Northern Rugby Football Union, was established in 1895 as a faction of Englands Rugby Football Union. Similar breakaway factions split from RFU-affiliated unions in Australia and New Zealand in 1907 and 1908, renaming themselves rugby football leagues, in 1922, the Northern Union also changed its name to the Rugby Football League and thus over time the sport itself became known as rugby league football. In 1895, a schism in Rugby football resulted in the formation of the Northern Rugby Football Union, within fifteen years of that first meeting in Huddersfield, more than 200 RFU clubs had left to join the rugby revolution. In 1897, the line-out was abolished and in 1898 professionalism introduced, in 1906, the Northern Union changed its rules, reducing teams from 15 to 13 a side and replacing the ruck formed after every tackle with the play the ball. A similar schism to that which occurred in England took place in Sydney, There, on 8 August 1907 the New South Wales Rugby Football League was founded at Batemans Hotel in George Street. Rugby league then went on to rugby union as the primary football code in New South Wales. On 5 May 1954 over 100,000 spectators watched the 1953–54 Challenge Cup Final at Odsal Stadium, Bradford, England, also in 1954 the Rugby League World Cup, the first for either code of rugby, was formed at the instigation of the French. In 1966, the International Board introduced a rule that a team in possession was allowed three play-the-balls and on the tackle a scrum was to be formed. This was increased to six tackles in 1972 and in 1983 the scrum was replaced by a handover,1967 saw the first professional Sunday matches of rugby league played
7.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
8.
Australian rules football
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The main way to score points is by kicking the oval-shaped ball between the two tall goal posts. The team with the score by the end of the match wins unless a draw is declared. During general play, players may position themselves anywhere on the field, the primary methods are kicking, handballing and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled, for example, throwing the ball is not allowed and players must not get caught holding the ball. A distinctive feature of the game is the mark, where players anywhere on the field who catch a ball from a kick are awarded possession, possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when a free kick or mark is paid. Players can tackle using their hands or use their body to obstruct opponents. The game features frequent physical contests, spectacular marking, fast movement of players and the ball and high scoring. The sports origins can be traced to matches played in Melbourne, Victoria in 1858. Its annual Grand Final is the highest attended club championship event in the world, the sport is also played at amateur level in many countries and in several variations. The games rules are governed by the AFL Commission with the advice of the AFLs Laws of the Game Committee, there is evidence of football being played sporadically in the Australian colonies in the first half of the 19th century. The earliest such match, held in St Kilda on 15 June, was between Melbourne Grammar and St Kilda Grammar. Born in Australia, Wills played a nascent form of rugby football whilst a pupil at Rugby School in England and his letter is regarded by many historians as giving impetus for the development of a new code of football today known as Australian football. Two weeks later, Wills friend, cricketer Jerry Bryant, posted an advertisement for a match at the Richmond Paddock adjoining the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This was the first of several kickabouts held that year involving members of the Melbourne Cricket Club, including Wills, Bryant, W. J. Hammersley, trees were used as goalposts and play typically lasted an entire afternoon. Without an agreed code of laws, some players were guided by rules they had learned in the British Isles. Another significant milestone in 1858 was a match played under experimental rules between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College, held at the Richmond Paddock. This 40-a-side contest, umpired by Wills and Scotch College teacher John Macadam, began on 7 August and it is commemorated with a statue outside the MCG, and the two schools have competed annually ever since in the Cordner-Eggleston Cup, the worlds oldest continuous football competition. Since the early 20th century, it has suggested that Australian football was derived from the Irish sport of Gaelic football
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Gaelic football
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Gaelic football, commonly referred to as football or Gaelic, is an Irish team sport. It is played two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kicking or punching the ball into the teams goals or between two upright posts above the goals and over a crossbar 2.5 metres above the ground. Players advance the football, a leather ball, up the field with a combination of carrying, bouncing, kicking, hand-passing. In the game, two types of scores are possible, points and goals, a point is awarded for kicking or hand-passing the ball over the crossbar, signalled by the umpire raising a white flag. A goal is awarded for kicking the ball under the crossbar into the net, positions in Gaelic football are similar to that in other football codes, and comprise one goalkeeper, six backs, two midfielders, and six forwards, with a variable number of substitutes. Gaelic football is one of four sports controlled by the Gaelic Athletic Association, along with hurling and camogie, Gaelic football is one of the few remaining strictly amateur sports in the world, with players, coaches, and managers prohibited from receiving any form of payment. Gaelic football is played on the island of Ireland, although units of the Association exist in other areas such as Great Britain, North America. Outside Ireland, football is played among members of the Irish diaspora. Gaelic Park in New York City is the largest purpose-built Gaelic sports venue outside Ireland, the All-Ireland Senior Championship is considered the most prestigious event in Gaelic football. Under the auspices of the GAA, Gaelic football is a sport, however. Gaelic football was first codified in 1887, although it has purported links to varieties of football played in Ireland. Consequently, the name caid is used by people to refer to present day Gaelic football. Dublin is still known as the football field, the Statute of Galway of 1527 allowed the playing of foot balle and archery but banned hokie—the hurling of a little ball with sticks or staves as well as other sports. By the 17th century, the situation had changed considerably, the games had grown in popularity and were widely played. This was due to the patronage of the gentry, now instead of opposing the games it was the gentry and the ruling class who were serving as patrons of the games. Games were organised between landlords with each team comprising 20 or more tenants, wagers were commonplace with purses of up to 100 guineas. The earliest record of a precursor to the modern game date from a match in County Meath in 1670
10.
Forward pass
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In several forms of football a forward pass is a throwing of the ball in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive teams goal line. In some football codes, such as football, the kicked forward pass is used so ubiquitously that it is not thought of as a distinct kind of play at all. In these sports, the concept of offside is used to regulate who can be in front of the play or be nearest to the goal, however, this has not always been the case. Some earlier incarnations of football allowed unlimited forward passing, while others had strict offside rules similar to rugby, the development of the forward pass in American football shows how the game has evolved from its rugby roots into the distinctive game it is today. Illegal and experimental forward passes had been attempted as early as 1876, another change in rules occurred on January 18,1951, which established that no center, tackle, or guard could receive a forward pass. Today, the only linemen who can receive a forward pass are the ends, current rules regulate who may throw and who may receive a forward pass, and under what circumstances, as well as how the defensive team may try to prevent a pass from being completed. In American and Canadian football, a pass, usually referred to simply as a pass. This is permitted only once during a scrimmage down by the team before team possession has changed, provided the pass is thrown from in or behind the neutral zone. An illegal forward pass can incur a penalty and the loss of a down, although it may be legally intercepted by the opponents. If an eligible receiver on the passing team legally catches the ball, the pass is completed, if an opposing player legally catches the ball it is an interception. That players team immediately gains possession of the ball and he may attempt to advance the ball toward his opponents goal, if no player is able to legally catch the ball it is an incomplete pass and the ball becomes dead the moment it touches the ground. It will then be returned to the line of scrimmage for the next down. If any player interferes with an eligible receivers ability to catch the ball it is pass interference which draws a penalty of varying degree. The person passing the ball must be a member of the team. The moment that a forward pass begins is important to the game, the pass begins the moment the passers arm begins to move forward. If the passer drops the ball before this moment it is a fumble, in this case anybody can gain possession of the ball before or after it touches the ground. If the passer drops the ball while his arm is moving forward it is a pass, regardless of where the ball lands or is first touched. The quarterback generally either starts a few paces behind the line of scrimmage or drops back a few paces after the ball is snapped
11.
Lineman (gridiron football)
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In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line. A number of NFL rules specifically address restrictions and requirements for the offensive line, linemen are usually the largest players on the field in both height and weight, since their positions usually require less running and more strength than skill positions. An offensive linemans motion during a play is limited to just a few quick steps to establish position. Offensive linemen thus tend to be the largest players on the field, with excellent agility and balance, most pro and college football offensive lineman tend to weigh over 300 pounds. On passing plays, the line is responsible for stopping defensive players from tackling the quarterback before he has thrown the ball. The interior offensive line consists of the center, who is responsible for snapping the ball into play, in addition to the interior line, a full offensive line may also include a Tight End outside one or both of the tackles. However, ends are eligible to catch passes, when an offensive lineman knocks a player down on a block, leaving the defensive player lying flat on his back, it is colloquially known as a pancake block. When an offensive line has an number of men on either side of the center. The defensive line consists of one or two defensive tackles and two ends who play outside the defensive tackles. The defensive line works with the linebackers to try to control the line of scrimmage, the 4-3 defensive formation, most commonly used in the NFL, employs two defensive tackles, while the 3-4 formation uses just a single defensive tackle, called the nose tackle. However, defensive ends in a typical 3-4 have responsibilities more similar to a 4-3 defensive tackle than 4-3 defensive ends, on running plays, the goal is to tackle the ball carrier. The defensive tackles are usually the most skilled run defenders on the team, on passing plays, the defensive line tries to reach the quarterback. Defensive ends are usually the most skilled pass rushers on the team, in order to increase the pressure on the quarterback, teams will often have players other than the defensive line attempt to tackle the quarterback, this is called a blitz. Defensive linemen—particularly defensive ends—are called upon to do more running than offensive linemen, thus they usually tend to be somewhat lighter and faster
12.
Blocking (American football)
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In American football, blocking or interference involves legal movements in which one player obstructs another players path with their body. The purpose of blocking is to prevent defensive players from tackling the ball carrier, Blocking is also not permitted beyond five yards from the line of scrimmage until the quarterback has handed off the ball to a runner or a receiver has touched the ball after it has been passed. Outside sports, running interference is a metaphor that refers to a persons helping someone in the performance of a task without directly assisting in the task, often this is done by attracting attention to oneself or throwing oneself into harms way. Zone blocking is a technique that is a simple and effective scheme for creating lanes for running plays, in a zone blocking scheme, fleet-footedness and athletic ability trump size as desirable qualities in offensive linemen. Coordination and technique more than muscle in implementing a successful scheme because defensive linemen are often double-teamed at the point of attack. In this blocking scheme, which takes much from the Veer blocking system, one of the simplest reasons many teams have incorporated zone blocking in their offenses is that zone blocking rules do not change based on the defensive front. In a man block system, blockers are paired with according to certain rules to create a running lane. If the defensive front changes, or if the stunts or blitzes. This requires learning multiple rules for the same play, Zone blocking uses very consistent rules that do not change according to the defensive front. Some teams base their entire offense on it, including the NFLs Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers. The University of Iowa under head coach Kirk Ferentz, a former NFL offensive line coach, utilizes zone blocking, the University of Michigan also started using zone blocking under head coach Lloyd Carr in the 2006 season, and continued to do so under his successor, Rodriguez. The Carolina Panthers made the switch to zone blocking under offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson for the 2007 season, the power running game became stagnant, and especially ineffective in goal-line/short yardage situations, thus resulting in Hennings firing and the switch to zone blocking. That season also saw the emergence of rookie Steve Slaton with the Houston Texans under their new Alex Gibbs-designed zone blocking scheme, using a running back out of the backfield, zone plays are usually categorized into three types, Inside Zone, Outside Zone and Stretch. These types describe the initial landmark of the ball carrier, a common approach is, Inside the tackles for IZ, just outside the tackle for OZ and just inside the last offensive player for the stretch. For each type of zone there are many different blocking schemes available, if uncovered, he is asked to help play-side on a double team by using wide lateral steps or even bucket steps. The resulting double team then reacts to the movement of the linemen as well as the movement of the linebacker, the initial movement of the double teams helps to equalize defensive talent and creates cutback lanes. Another scheme asks the offensive linemen to imagine a railroad track parallel to the running backs path and this could be a linebacker, but also a slanting defensive linemen from somewhere else. Starting from either inside or outside, some offensive lines always pair two on one and use a fullback to block the remaining defender outside and this makes it necessary for the offensive linemen to use a variety of line-splits and steps
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