Any South African NFL fans?

[thestaggy]

Worst super bowl ever. I'm glad about the outcome. I love me an underdog and the seahawks absolutely destroyed the broncos. Just a bummer it was so boring to watch. The 49ers seahawks championship game would have been epic as a super bowl.

The ever talkative Richard Sherman called the NFC Championship game the Superbowl.

 

[Talentloos]

The ever talkative Richard Sherman called the NFC Championship game the Superbowl.

I should have been. And where was Sherman on Sunday? Didn't even know he was on the field. I really wonder what happened to the broncos. They should have had it in the bag.

 

[Celine]

It's a game of yards... Progress is measured in yards. The attacking (offensive) team get four attempts (downs) to make ten yards. If they make it, they get another four downs to make another ten yards. This goes on from one side of the field, which is 100 yards long, to the other, 'till they get within ten yards of the goal line (end zone) at which point they get four attempts to score a goal (touchdown). Calls like "first and ten" mean your first attempt to get ten yards, "second and seven", "third and short" and so on... If it looks like they won't make the ten yards on their fourth attempt, they usually punt (kick) the ball into their opponents side of the field, turning over possession to the other team who now do exactly the same going the other way. Offensive teams are trying to make yards and defensive teams are trying to stop them and force a turn over. Good defences can drive an offence back so they end up having to cover a lot more than ten yards on a particular play. The "grab the ball" part you talk about is called the "snap". The attacking and defending teams line up face to face at the line of scrimmage (the point to which the attacking team carried the ball on their last play). The offence snap the ball to their quarterback (kinda like our flyhalf) who then passes or hands off the ball to whichever player is in the best position to gain yardage. The defence do everything they can to disrupt the quarterback and stop running or catching players.
Touchdowns score six points, a conversion is one, a field goal (like a penalty kick in rugby) is three points
Hope that helps Celine

EDIT: Should add, both teams have players who are better at defence and offence in their squad. When a team has the ball, their 11 best offensive players will be on the field. When they turn over the ball, the offensive players come off the field and the 11 best defensive players take their place.

thanks so much greg for explaining the game to me. i do understand a bit more than i did.

i love to sit and watch it but i didn't understand what they were actually trying to accomplish, now you have explained it to me it will be nice to sit and watch it with a clearer understanding of the game.

much appreciated.

 

[DJ...]

It's a game of yards... Progress is measured in yards. The attacking (offensive) team get four attempts (downs) to make ten yards. If they make it, they get another four downs to make another ten yards. This goes on from one side of the field, which is 100 yards long, to the other, 'till they get within ten yards of the goal line (end zone) at which point they get four attempts to score a goal (touchdown). Calls like "first and ten" mean your first attempt to get ten yards, "second and seven", "third and short" and so on... If it looks like they won't make the ten yards on their fourth attempt, they usually punt (kick) the ball into their opponents side of the field, turning over possession to the other team who now do exactly the same going the other way. Offensive teams are trying to make yards and defensive teams are trying to stop them and force a turn over. Good defences can drive an offence back so they end up having to cover a lot more than ten yards on a particular play. The "grab the ball" part you talk about is called the "snap". The attacking and defending teams line up face to face at the line of scrimmage (the point to which the attacking team carried the ball on their last play). The offence snap the ball to their quarterback (kinda like our flyhalf) who then passes or hands off the ball to whichever player is in the best position to gain yardage. The defence do everything they can to disrupt the quarterback and stop running or catching players.
Touchdowns score six points, a conversion is one, a field goal (like a penalty kick in rugby) is three points
Hope that helps Celine

EDIT: Should add, both teams have players who are better at defence and offence in their squad. When a team has the ball, their 11 best offensive players will be on the field. When they turn over the ball, the offensive players come off the field and the 11 best defensive players take their place.

And this is why the average NFL game has just 11 minutes of actual play. The rest of the time they're sitting around scratching their balls, listening to the coach and QB harp on about convoluted nonsense while the television audience watch 6 times more adverts than actual football. NFL players play an average of 6 and a half minutes per game.

I find it quite preposterous. And yes, I have watched a fair bit. It just doesn't excite me whatsoever...

 

[satanboy]

...scratching their balls....
I find it quite preposterous. And yes, I have watched a fair bit. It just doesn't excite me whatsoever...

I guess you had to have been there...

 

[Talentloos]

And this is why the average NFL game has just 11 minutes of actual play. The rest of the time they're sitting around scratching their balls, listening to the coach and QB harp on about convoluted nonsense while the television audience watch 6 times more adverts than actual football. NFL players play an average of 6 and a half minutes per game.

I find it quite preposterous. And yes, I have watched a fair bit. It just doesn't excite me whatsoever...

That's why you pay R2500 rand for gamepass This way you only see 50% of the ads and a relaxing black screen for the rest. (although if you watched on espn, it's the worst torture in the world. Same 3 ads for 3 hours. Every 5 minutes.)

This killed me in the beginning. But if you really love it, you sit through it. I didn't start watching on TV. I started out with dodgy Internet radio streams that were barely audible. Then live streaming worked for a bit. If you had patience to get a player to work and to click away all the ads. Then bad Internet caused most of the streams not to buffer so you only saw like 7 pixels and had to guess which one was the ball. But through all of that, I started to love football.

Now I can watch it in hd, on demand. Dream come true.

 

[greg0205]

And this is why the average NFL game has just 11 minutes of actual play. The rest of the time they're sitting around scratching their balls, listening to the coach and QB harp on about convoluted nonsense while the television audience watch 6 times more adverts than actual football. NFL players play an average of 6 and a half minutes per game.

I find it quite preposterous. And yes, I have watched a fair bit. It just doesn't excite me whatsoever...

Have to admit, much as we bitch them here, watching on DStv is so, so, so much better than ESPN. I recon the normal ratio of game to commercials was around one minute of play to three or four minutes of ads on ESPN. At least when DStv cut away it was to stadium shots or Kurt Russell talking up the teams.
My two cents... The game was so one sided it wasn't really the best advertisement for Football generally. Finals are often like that 'tho. What made me smile was the QB who earns $500K a year completely owning the one who earns $18M.

 

[DJ...]

I can't get over the stop-start nature of it and how little actual football is played.

Mate of mine introduced me to Aussie Rules a while back and I thought I'd find it as boring as NFL, but it's really not that bad once you get to know the rules better. So I'm not anti-NFL because I just prefer rugby - I just cannot get into it at all, even after spending an age trying to teach myself the rules and watching on tele. Admittedly I watched on ESPN, but I've been to live games. Even at the games I couldn't get over how broken the game-play was and how little of it there actually was.

I appreciate the technical side of it. I've found myself watching the game rooting for them to run a certain play at certain times, and it was briefly exciting. Briefly.

Perhaps one day somebody will be able to convince me that it's not just a bastardised, convoluted and lazy version of rugby. Oh, and why call it football to begin with? The ball touches a kicker's foot, what, 5, 6 times in a game?

 

[DJ...]

What made me smile was the QB who earns $500K a year completely owning the one who earns $18M.

Even I know who Peyton Manning is. Even before the game...

 

[Talentloos]

Perhaps one day somebody will be able to convince me that it's not just a bastardised, convoluted and lazy version of rugby. Oh, and why call it football to begin with? The ball touches a kicker's foot, what, 5, 6 times in a game?

I honestly think the NFL players would die after one half of rugby.

It's the American way. They glamorize almost nothing to epic proportions. And spend more money than God owns doing it.

 

[greg0205]

Even I know who Peyton Manning is. Even before the game...

His brother Eli, who also plays, was at the game... They had matching sad faces.

 

[greg0205]

I honestly think the NFL players would die after one half of rugby.

It's the American way. They glamorize almost nothing to epic proportions. And spend more money than God owns doing it.

Yeah, I don't see them making 40 minutes of rugby either. Just too big to run constantly for that long. Will say this 'tho, the tackle situation is completely different in the two games. I recon the intensity might be slightly higher in football but the collisions are frightening either way. I'd run just as far to avoid a tackle by that Seahawks' center as I would to avoid a hit from Duane or Willem or Eben or Jannie or Bismark or...

 

[DJ...]

The most exciting part of NFL is the Pick Me campaign.

But I am pretty sure that most of it is just camera trickery and CGI effects...

 

[Stickfigure]

I should have been. And where was Sherman on Sunday? Didn't even know he was on the field. I really wonder what happened to the broncos. They should have had it in the bag.

Sherman claimed the Seahawks figured out Peyton's hand signals, which is why they were able to stifle the Broncos offense.

 

[thestaggy]

So the 'Hawks defence is now being mentioned among the other legendary defences of the Superbowl era; the '76 Steelers (the fabled 'Steel Curtain', '85 Bears ('Monsters of the Midway') and '00 Ravens. They just humiliated the best offence in the history of the NFL in an era that is tailor made for high-scoring, pass-orientated offences.

 

[thestaggy]

I honestly think the NFL players would die after one half of rugby.

Yeah, I don't see them making 40 minutes of rugby either. Just too big to run constantly for that long. Will say this 'tho, the tackle situation is completely different in the two games. I recon the intensity might be slightly higher in football but the collisions are frightening either way. I'd run just as far to avoid a tackle by that Seahawks' center as I would to avoid a hit from Duane or Willem or Eben or Jannie or Bismark or...

American football is fought over yards and inches, so they have to be bigger. In rugby you can afford to surrender metres because at any moment you can take possession of the ball. For that reason a rugby union prop would get crushed by an NFL offensive/defensive lineman, but the prop will have superior stamina. An example of the strength needed; A Nose Tackle in the NFL is required to a) stay exactly where he is when he has two men with the combined weight of 600 - 640 pounds trying to push him back or b) he has to be able to move forward when those two men at a combined 600 - 640 pounds are trying to stop him from moving forward.

EDIT: The tackling used to be far worse in the '70s. You could hit a player before he even had the ball and one team, the Oakland Raiders, took it to a level whereby they were even accused of being criminals due to the malicious way they played. Now it is had been toned down quite a bit. Still some nasty hits though.

 

[Emmitt22]

Rugby and football are totally different games.
For starters, the outcome of football matches aren't determined by a ref who applies some of the laws, some of the time, by using imaginary off-sides lines.
The other cool thing about football is that the game rewards teams that keep possession. In rugby, the forwards scrum as hard as they can to win the ball so that one of the halfbacks can kick it back to the other team.
No wonder they don't bother with helmets - there's no risk of brain damage!

 

[EndZone]

Morning Guys

A few of us South African NFL fans have out together a facebook page called EndZone with some pretty cool articles, many of which have a uniquely South African perspective on the game. We are also in talks with supersport and are launching some exciting initiatives such as a flag football event, podcasts, fantasy football, etc. Go have a look and pop us a message if you guys are interested. Depending on the amount of interest there is SSport could possibly purchase a package to provide DSTV subscribers with more live games....which would be glory.

 

[Ninja'd]

The most exciting part of NFL is the Pick Me campaign.

But I am pretty sure that most of it is just camera trickery and CGI effects...

Do SA fans even follow college football? For me it's just random names being thrown.

 

[Talentloos]

Almost fantasy time. Whoop whoop