Portal:American football

The American Football Portal

American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or throwing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance the ball at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense. If they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. In the case of a tie after four quarters, the game enters overtime.

American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football game was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on the rules of soccer at the time; by 1875, the sport had adopted rules similar to rugby union. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established concepts that would define the sport, among them the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone, and specified the size and shape of the football. The modern sport is closely related to Canadian football, which evolved in parallel with and at the same time as the American game; the two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football.

American football is the most popular sport in the United States; the most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. Over a million Americans played college or high school football in 2022, and the National Football League (NFL) has one of the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, ranks among the most-watched club sporting events globally. Other professional and amateur leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball; the sport maintains a growing following in the rest of North America, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. Flag football, a variant of the sport, will be played at the 2028 Summer Olympics. (Full article...)

Recognized content -

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

The Super Bowl XLVI halftime show took place on February 5, 2012, at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana as part of Super Bowl XLVI. It was headlined by Madonna, who became the first sole female headliner since Diana Ross in 1996. It featured guest appearances by LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. and CeeLo Green. Including collaborations with Cirque du Soleil, choreographer Jamie King as music director, and multimedia show producer Moment Factory, the show was critically acclaimed, becoming the second most viewed, behind the XXVII halftime show (1993), Super Bowl halftime show at the time with 114 million viewers, higher than the viewership of the game itself.

Preparations began in January, with Madonna saying that the rehearsal was the most exhausting one in which she had ever participated. Costumes were designed by Riccardo Tisci, Givenchy, Miu Miu and Prada. The production team was allotted seven minutes to set up the stage, 12 minutes for the performance and eight minutes to take down the stage. The modular structure was assembled from a truck, with a large white fabric in front as media screens for Moment Factory. Projection mapping was used by video-hardware manufacturer Barco, with films modified for the spectators and the television audience. The stadium was equipped with Sharpys lighting arrangements from Clay Paky, and the show used Sennheiser sound equipment. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

General images

The following are images from various American football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Hanged U-shaped Continental Indoor Football League goalpost (from Arena football)
Image 2Morgan Athletic Club (pictured c. 1900), predecessor of the Arizona Cardinals (from History of American football)
Image 3Footballs and a helmet at a Calgary Stampeders (CFL) team practice (from Canadian football)
Image 4Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", pictured here in 1878 as the captain of the Yale University football team (from History of American football)
Image 5An early American football team, from the turn of the twentieth century (from History of American football)
Image 6An arena football goalpost structure featuring the rebound nets on either side of the uprights. (from Arena football)
Image 7A modern down indicator box is mounted on a pole and is used to mark the current line of scrimmage. The number on the marker is changed using a dial. (from Canadian football)
Image 8One of the two Harvard vs. McGill games played in 1874 (from History of American football)
Image 9The Big Game between Stanford and California was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914 (from History of American football)
Image 10Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario (from Canadian football)
Image 11Sign at the old entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 12Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 93rd Grey Cup game at BC Place (November 2005) (from Canadian football)
Image 13The Hall is made up of several sections with display of the inductees at its heart (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 14Indoor Football League (from Arena football)
Image 15Washington Valor vs. Philadelphia Soul (2017) (from Arena football)
Image 16Jim Thorpe was the first president of the NFL. (from History of American football)
Image 17Tom Davies of Pittsburgh runs against undefeated and unscored upon Georgia Tech in the 1918 game at Forbes Field (from History of American football)
Image 18Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium with the Hall of Fame in lower right (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 19Sewanee's 1899 "Iron Men" (from History of American football)
Image 20Diagram of a Canadian football field (from Canadian football)
Image 21Original entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 221902 football game between the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan (from History of American football)
Image 231906 St. Louis Post-Dispatch photograph of Brad Robinson, who threw the first legal forward pass and was the sport's first triple threat (from History of American football)
Image 24A Native American college football team (from History of American football)
Image 25A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy (from History of American football)
Image 26Don Hutson in 1940. (from History of American football)
Image 27A game between the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders, 1910 (from Canadian football)
Image 28A moment of the second game between Tufts and Harvard at College Hill, October 1875 (from History of American football)
Image 29High school football stadium in Manhattan, Kansas (from History of American football)
Image 30Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (gold jerseys with black accents) vs. Triangle Torch (black jerseys with red and yellow accents) play an American Indoor Football game at Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 25, 2016 (from Arena football)
Image 31Inside the original structure in 2008 (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 32A football signed by the 1974 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement class (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 33Colorado's first football team in 1890 (from History of American football)
Image 341897 Latrobe Athletic Association football team: The first entirely professional team to play an entire season. (from History of American football)
Image 35A game between the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Atoms and First Canadian Army Red and Blue Bombers, in Utrecht, Netherlands, October 1945 (from Canadian football)
Image 36Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, originally built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, pictured in 2005. (from Canadian football)

Selected image

Cleveland Browns Stadium

Credit: Chris Brown

Cleveland Browns Stadium is a football stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. Home of the Cleveland Browns National Football League franchise, it sits on 31 acres (13 ha) of land on the shores of Lake Erie and has a capacity of at least 73,200.

Selected biography -

Taylor on a 1961 trading card

James Charles Taylor (September 20, 1935 – October 13, 2018) was an American professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons, with the Green Bay Packers from 1958 to 1966 and with the expansion New Orleans Saints in 1967. With the Packers, Taylor was invited to five straight Pro Bowls and won four NFL championships, as well as a victory in the first Super Bowl. He was recognized as the NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) after winning the rushing title in 1962, beating out Jim Brown. An aggressive player and fluent trash talker, Taylor developed several personal rivalries throughout his career, most notably with New York Giants linebacker Sam Huff. This confrontational attitude, combined with his tenacious running style, a penchant for contact, and ability to both withstand and deliver blows, earned him a reputation as one of the league's toughest players.

Playing college football for the LSU Tigers, Taylor led the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in scoring in 1956 and 1957 and earned first-team All-America honors as a senior. He was selected by the Packers in the second round of the 1958 NFL draft and was used sparingly as a rookie, but with the arrival of coach Vince Lombardi in 1959 Taylor soon became the team's all-purpose back, especially when only a few yards were needed. In this role, his spirited performance against the Giants in the 1962 NFL Championship Game came to define his mental and physical toughness. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

Calendar

2023 season: NFL • NCAA FBS (Bowl games)
Jan 8	College Football National Championship: #1 Michigan vs #2 Washington
Jan 13-15	NFL: Wild Cards
Jan 20-21	NFL: Divisional games
Jan 28	NFL: Conference games
Feb 4	NFL: Pro Bowl Games
Feb 11	NFL: Super Bowl LVIII

Selected quote

“

I think he was the greatest football player that I ever stepped on the field against. Nobody dictated what you could do offensively like L.T..

”

— Steve Bartkowski

Retired Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams quarterback, on New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor

Did you know...

...that running back Garrison Hearst is the only player in league history to have twice won the Comeback Player of the Year Award?
...that the Sutherland version of the single-wing offensive formation, named for coach Jock Sutherland, pictured, had fallen into nearly-complete disuse on the collegiate and professional levels by 1970?
...that only one player since 1998, University of Miami Hurricanes linebacker Dan Morgan in 2000, has claimed the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award in the same year?

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American football

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WikiProject Sports
- WikiProject American football
  - WikiProject American Football League
  - WikiProject Arena Football League
  - WikiProject College football
  - WikiProject National Football League
    - WikiProject Pittsburgh Steelers
    - WikiProject Chicago Bears
    - WikiProject Green Bay Packers
    - WikiProject New England Patriots
    - WikiProject San Francisco 49ers
    - WikiProject Los Angeles Rams
- WikiProject Canadian football
- WikiProject European League of Football

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