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American football puzzlement solved

astrojax69

07:02 / 09.12.08

i have recently got espn on my local cable provided tv and have tried, oh i have tried, to understand american football... but i remain puzzled about, well, a lot, but in particular these:

- what the fuck is a 'play action'??

- can a quarterback, or whoever it is behind the ball when it comes back from the scrimmage thing, run and then throw the ball back to someone who could then throw it down field to one of the runner people?? if not, why not - what is the rule - and if so, why don't they do this more often??

obliged any answers and would be obliged for more answers as they arise...

[i find watching many other sports tend to have the commentators explain the rules and nuances of the game better than american football commentators do - is this just me?]

Tsuga

08:44 / 09.12.08

Play action is short for "play action pass", which is like a running play fakey-fakey, "look here I'm giving it to this guy to run into you/ whoop oh no I didn't I'm throwing it to that motherfucker way behind you!"
Multiple passes are only allowed in cases of lateral passes, to the side or behind, only one forward pass is allowed in a play and that must be from behind the line of scrimmage. But you can do laterals all day long. You could do some laterals behind the line and then a forward pass, but it's usually too confusing and dangerous a play.

astrojax69

23:12 / 09.12.08

aah, that explains the passes... ta tsuga.

and so really it should had the name 'fake action', not play action... now i see. still much to learn, and learn to like - as yet to be enamoured by this game.

now, if you've got any questions about aussie rules, lemme know...

Slim

10:28 / 20.12.08

I am extremely saddened that I did not get to the questions before Tsuga did. Damn you to Hades!

astrojax- I haven't watched Aussie rules in a while but I would tune in to it every now and then because I found it entertaining. I rooted for the Western Bulldogs, simply because it was the first team I saw. Also, I like bulldogs.

astrojax69

02:22 / 22.12.08

and a good enough reason to root for them, too, though the term 'root' in australia has conotations of engaging in sexual intercourse, as in a bloke saying to a sheila 'wanna have a root?' - the cause of much merriment in talking sports with our american friends!

that said, how do you find trying to unravel the mysteries of the sport from what you have watched? the doggies are in for a good year in '09 i rekkun - still not a patch on my cats (geelong) of course, but they're a not-hated team of mine when the cats aren't playing; always like to see the doggies do well.

if you can ever find it, they made a brilliant 'inside the team' doco called 'year of the dogs' about their 1996 season (not a pretty one, but an illuminating watch)

who do you follow in american football? who should i follow??

bon noel all

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