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The formations on the field

• The offense has the possession of the ball and tries to score
• The defense has the task to defend against the aggressors.
• Special team, enters for special plays. We will talk about them next.

The Squads on the field

The blue offense on the right and the white defense on the left.

The squads are formed by very specialized players. Every play starts with a similar to the picture above.

The offense has always the possession of the ball. Every play starts the same way. A player of the offense (center) hands the ball between the legs to the Quarterback (captain of the offense). At that time the players are let loose and the action begins.

The Offense

• The quarterback (QB) has the option to hand the ball to the runningback (RB) or to pass to a wide receiver (WR).
• The men on the line (OL) have the responsibility to protect the quarterback or to help the runningback to run through the defense. Every action phase, is thought before hand and every player knows where to go and what to do for the next 10 seconds of action.

The Defense

• The Defensive Backs (DB) do protect the field against long passes. They are the last barriers. They must be speedy to keep up with receivers and strong to tackle them.
• The Linebackers (LB) stop the runningbacks (RB) and defend against short passes.
• The Defensive lines (DL) battle in the trenches versus the offensive line.

The Special Team

• The Place kicker (PK) (not shown on the above picture) tries to place the ball between the goal post by kicking it.
• The Punter (P) (not on the picture either) kicks the ball as far as he can.

and now read about:

The Players