American Football - Scoring System

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The scoring system in American football is different in comparison to other games. The game is played between an offensive and a defensive team. Both teams have the aim of reaching the goal post or end zone of the opponent team to gain points. The winner of the game is the team that has earned more points. The single play in the game is called down and the offensive team has four of them.

The team has to use the four downs till ten yards. If they are able to reach ten yards, they will get four downs again to reach the further 10 yards. If the offensive team is unable to reach the 10 yards in four downs, the ball is transferred to the other team.

Types of American Football Scores

A team can earn points in different ways to increase their score. The highest point that they can get is through touchdown. The other ways through which points can be scored can be found in the table below −

Touchdown

This is the most important way to earn points as each team gets six points for each touchdown. When the ball crosses the goal line of the opponent team, the offensive team earns six points. Another way to earn points through a touchdown is when a player catches the ball while he is in the end zone of the opponent team.

The rules of gaining points through touchdowns differ in college and pro football. In the case of pro football, both feet of the receiver should be on the ground or in the in-bounds when he catches the ball. In the case of college football, only one foot is enough to be in the in-bounds to get points through a touchdown.

Field Goal

The points which a team gets through the field goal is three. A team can score points through the field goal if a kicker kicks the ball that crosses the uprights of the goalpost. The center has to pass the ball to the punter or quarterback. The punter or the quarterback has to put the ball on the ground so that the kicker can kick it to the goalpost. The defense has to block the ball to stop the field goal.

Field goals can be scored from anywhere on the field but teams usually prefer a distance of 40 yards. Kickers have to position themselves along the offensive line to go for the field goal. Players can also use dropkick to get the field goal. The kicker in this case has to put the ball on the ground and kick it to the goalpost. This trick is very rarely used.

Two-Points Conversion

Two-point conversion can be attempted after getting a touchdown. In modern games, a team uses this option when they need two points to win the game or go for a tie. The team who wants to attempt a two-point conversion has to reach the end zone. In such a case, the game has to be started from a two-yard line. Many teams go for this type of scoring but analytics reveal that Per attempt a team receives 1.002 points while the average of the extra points is 0.938.

Extra Point

The extra point is a type of field goal in which the goal has to be kicked from a 15-yard line. On being successful, the team gets only one point. Until 2015, players were allowed to go for a field goal from a two-yard line for getting extra points. This helped the kickers to earn extra points easily but after the change of rule, it became a little difficult to earn extra points.

Safety

Safety is a way of scoring in which the defensive team has to tackle the offensive team. The defensive team receives 2 points. After earning the points, the defensive team gets the possession of the ball and also gets the chance of punting. As per the strategy, a team always tries for safeties to earn points when the game is about to end.

American Football Scoreboard

Now we will know about the American Football Scoreboard.

Team Names

The scoreboard has the names of the two teams participating in the current game. The name of the home team can be found on the top or left while the visiting team’s name can be found on the bottom or right. In some scoreboards, HOME and AWAY can also be found for the home and visiting team respectively.

Scores

The current score of each team can be found next to the name of the team. The score is updated continuously till the end of the game.

Quarter and Time Remaining

There are four quarters in each American Football game. The duration of each quarter is 15 minutes. The scoreboard shows the quarter in which the game is being played for example second or third quarter. The time remaining for the current quarter is also displayed.

Down and Distance

American Football is a game in which the offensive team has the option of four downs when the game starts. The downs are displayed on the scoreboard as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th. The scoreboard also shows the distance which the offensive team has to cover to get four downs again. A TO GO number is also displayed which lets the offensive team know the distance to be covered for a 10-yard goal so that 1st down can be earned.

Ball On

Ball On is an indicator which shows the current location of the ball on the field. The number displayed also shows the distance of the ball from each end zone.

Possession Indicator

The possession indicator shows the name of the team which is currently possessing the ball. Usually, the ball is in the possession of the offensive team.

Timeouts Remaining

Three timeouts are allotted to each team per half. The number of timeouts is displayed on some of the scoreboards.