FOOTBALL IN HIGH HEELS: (NO) OFFENSE
In my last post, I covered some of the most common positions in football. Little did I know that this was the tip of the iceberg….there are actually even more positions played in the game and then they are divided into offense and defense.
Color me even more confused, since the last time I had to deal with two groups being divided was when I was in high school and girls were firmly in either Team Backstreet Boys or Team *NSYNC. (Let me tell you, girls fought for their boy band like people fighting for an 80% off Prada bag on Black Friday!)
Anyway, back to football. I actually went and read up on this (thank you, Football for Dummies!) and came up with a pretty basic understanding of what each side does. Today, we will tackle the offense side. I can’t even tell you what I thought it meant in the past because until today I had no idea such a thing even existed. I simply thought the two teams played against each other, one of them won the game and went along their merry way.
OFFENSE: This is the team that is in possession of the ball and they must bring it to the opponent’s end zone in order to score points. There are eleven players, divided into two groups. (This is beginning to sound like math class, but I promise not to bring common core into the discussion.)
Group one: Offensive Line or Linemen….not to be confused with line dancing, although if they did break out into a random line dance, it would be quite entertaining.
What they do: Responsible for blocking, yet they do not handle the ball. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, such as if they take a different position, a ball is fumbled by a ball carrier or a pass is deflected.
Cast of Characters: One Center, two Offensive Guards, two Offensive Tackles.
Group Two: Backs and Receivers. These six players are on the outside or behind the offensive line and actually get to use the ball. (In my head, I am thinking of this as one group has balls and the other doesn’t.) This involves several different plays, including the line of scrimmage and flexbone formation, but those will be covered in tomorrow’s article. My head is spinning enough trying to keep all of this information straight!
Cast of Characters: Quarterback, Running back, Wide receiver, Tight end. See my Football In High Heels: Getting Into Position article to see what they do.
Tomorrow, we will cover the other terms within the offense. Stay tuned!
