If you have any questions not answered below, or are interested in joining the Jets, a West Australia based Gridiron Team, drop us a line at jetsgc@gmail.com or check out the training or current season pages for more details on the Jets current season.
The Basics of Gridiron.
A gridiron team is allowed 11 players on the field at any one time, however the team is split in a number of different units, each consisting of 11 players, to take the field at different time.
Basically a gridiron team consists of an Offensive team, defensive team and special teams. The perfect situation is to have a different 11 players for each of these teams, however due to the fact that we normally have less than 33 players at a game a number of players normally end up playing in more than one team
The aim of the offense is to score points. To do that they must maintain possession of the ball. The offense gets 4 plays , called DOWNS, to progress the ball 10 yards forward. If they do, they get what’s called a FIRST DOWN, and have another four more downs to move the ball forward another 10 yards. This continues until they score or fail to move the ball the required 10 yards and turn the football over to their opponents. After each down the ball is SPOTTED at the point on the field that the offense got the ball to on their last play. Taking a straight line from the ball to each side line creates the line of scrimmage. When the offence lines up they must stay on their side of the line of scrimmage, and can’t move until the centre starts to SNAP the ball, this is when the centre passes the ball to the quaterback. The quarter back must be behind the line of scrimmage to be able to do a forward pass, and only one forward pass per play is allowed.
At the end of each down, the offense goes into a huddle - a team meeting on the field. The Quarter back tells the team the play for the next down. The team is told all the details for that play, including who gets the ball, whether it's a run play or a pass play, when the ball will be snapped, and to what side of the line the play will occur.
Points can be scored by getting a
TOUCHDOWN - 6 points
The offensive team must cross their opponent's goal line while in possession of the ball.
CONVERSION - 1 point (Kick) or 2 points (Pass or Run)
After a touchdown the offense has another chance to score from the 3-yard line. They can place kick the ball through the goal post or they can pass or run over the goal line.
FIELD GOAL - 3 points
The offensive team may place kick the ball from anywhere on the field behind the line of scrimmage. The ball must go between the goal posts and over the uprights.
There are a variety of player combinations, called FORMATIONS, that the offense can use to move the football down the field, and Coaches will vary the formation depending on the defense, the Down and field position. A basic Formation includes -
· OFFENSIVE LINEMEN - five players, two TACKLES, two GUARDS, and one CENTRE who snaps the ball to the quaterback to start the play. The offensive line block for the ball carrier to prevent the defense from tackling him, or drop back a step and form a wall to protect the Quarter back on passing plays.
Blocking is basically trying to push the opposition player out of the way.
· RECEIVERS - three players who are eligible to catch a pass. The Receiver closest to the Offensive Linemen is called the TIGHT END while the two closest to the sideline are called WIDE RECEIVERS
· RUNNING BACKS – normally you have two running backs being the FULLBACK and the TAILBACK. The fullback will normally run up the middle with the ball, or BLOCK up the middle for the tail back. The tailback normally takes the ball out wide on running plays. Both players will block for the quarter back on passing plays
· QUARTER BACK - he will call the play then take the ball from the Centre and either hand it to a Running Back or pass it downfield to a Receiver.
Put simply the job of the defense is to stop the offense from scoring by stopping them from getting any First downs and thus getting the ball back of their offense. The defense has two basic assignments, to tackle the runner and to break up the plays.
A tackle is made when the ball carrier's knee touches the ground, or his forward progress is stopped and he is unable to move.
If the ball is passed then the defense tries to break up the play by stopping the ball getting to the received. This is done by either by tackling the quarter back before he can throw the ball, this is called a sack, intercepting the ball in flight before it gets to the receiver or simply knock the ball away from the receiver so that no one can catch it. If the receiver catches the ball it’s then the same as a running play and the defense will tackle the receiver.
Only the player with the ball may be tackled. If an offensive is blocking the defensive player, the defensive player can either push or run round him or block him out of the play so another defensive player can have a shot at the player with the ball.
As with the offense, the defense can use a variety of formations to achieve their goals. The defense is made up of
· DEFENSIVE LINEMEN – who line up directly opposite the offensive line men, and try to either get through to the quarter back and sack him, tackle the runner as he comes thought or make a hole in the offensive line for one of the defensive linebackers to get through.
· LINEBACKERS line up behind the defensive line and watch the running backs to tackle them if they get the ball or blitz through to try and sack the quarter back,
· CORNER BACKS, line up on the wide receivers and cover them to try to stop them completing the pass either by knocking down the ball or intercepting it.
· SAFTIES – line up behind the linebackers and are like a full back in rugby. Their job is to get over and help the corners if there is a pass, or if a running back gets past the line backers make the tackle.
There are two types of coverage that defense use. One is MAN COVERAGE, in which each defensive player is assigned an offensive player that he covers. The other is ZONE COVER, in which each defensive player is assigned an area on the ground that he covers and he picks up any player that comes into that zone. There are many variations of zone coverage.
When the defense line up they must line up on their side of the line of scrimmage, however unlike to offense they can move as much as they like, as long as they don’t cross the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped.
While not their primary job defense can also score points. This is done by either intercepting a pass or picking up a ball which has been stripped from an offensive player and running it back into the oppositions endzone for a touch down. The other way is by tacking an offensive player with the ball in their endzone, this is called a safety and is worth 2 points.
Simply put, the defenders work to cover the offense while the offense tries to beat the defensive coverage.
There are 5 special teams, KICK OFF, KICK RETURN, PUNT , PUNT RETURN and FILED GOAL unit’s.
· KICK OFF and KICK RETURN - At the start of the game, the second half, or after a score one team will send on it’s kicking team, while the other sends on it’s receiving team. The kicking team lines up behind the 35 yard line and must stay behind until the ball has been kicked. Once kicked they run down field and try to tackle the player on the receiving team who caught the ball, while the rest of the receiving team block for him as he runs down field.
· PUNT and PUNT RETURN – if the offensive is on its 4th down, and it doesn’t look likely that they will get the 10 yards required to get a 1st down, the punt team will come one and kick the ball as far down field as they can, without it going out of bounds on the full or going out the back of the end zone. Once it has been kicked it’s pretty much the same as playing kick off and kick return. Normally the punting team is just the offensive team with the quarter back replaced by a kicker, and the receivers replaced by corner backs who know how to tackle. The punt return team is normally just the safety going off from the defense and being replaced by a running back or receiver.
· FIELD GOAL UNIT – this is used to score the extra point after a touch down or for a field goal attempted. Basically the field goal unit consists of 9 line men, a holder and a kickers. The defense just lines up as one big defensive line and try to rush through and stop the ball
For both punt and field goal you can’t hit the kicker after he has kicked the ball, so basic rule is go for the ball not the kicker.
