American Football Guide

Time:​ ​Quarters​ ​and​ ​Halves
Each football game is broken down into segments called quarters. There are four quarters to each
football game, and each quarter is 15 minutes in length. A quarter always lasts longer than 15
actual minutes (real time) due to timeouts, TV commercials, and injuries on the field. The 15
minutes on the clock is referred to as game time, and is kept track of via the game clock. The
average NFL football game will usually last between 3-4 hours (real time). A half is two quarters
in length and there are two halves in one game, 1st half and 2nd half. After the conclusion of the
1st half there is an intermission period called half-time. Half-time is 12 minutes in length (game
clock​ ​time).
Pre-game
Before the game begins the National Anthem is performed, followed by a coin toss at mid-field
to decide who will receive the ball first on the kickoff. Representatives from each team will
gather at midfield with the referee who administers the toss. One of the representative players
(usually the team captain) will call ―heads or ―tails while the coin is in the air. The side of the
coin that lands face up will determine who will receive the ball first. The team who loses the coin
toss gets to choose which end zone they would like to receive the football. A team will usually
choose to receive the ball first if they win the toss, however sometimes a team will choose to
kick off first instead. The rationale behind that decision is that whoever kicks the ball first gets to
get the ball kicked to them at the start of the third quarter, which is the end of halftime. On the
TV side of things, the announcers and analysts give game reports, conduct interviews and make
predictions​ ​in​ ​the​ ​pre-game​ ​segment.
Yanks​ ​Guide​ ​-​ ​The​ ​#1​ ​Guide​ ​to​ ​American​ ​Football
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