American football is a sport that takes inspiration from both rugby and football. However, obvious differences between the sports are the forward pass, blocking and the line of scrimmage. With the introduction of these rules, the game soared in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the game started being played in colleges throughout America. Through the popularity of the sport in colleges, the game first became professional in 1920 with the formulation of the National Football League. In 1959, a rival league was formed that was called the American Football League. It was decided in 1966/1967 that a game between the two champions of the NFL and AFL would take place. The game between the champions was called the Super Bowl. The first ever Super Bowl champions were the Green Bay Packers.
What is NFL?
The NFL is the name of the governing body of American football. The NFL stands for the National Football League. American football is one of the most popular sports in America and is a sport watched and played by millions all over the country.
American football is played between two teams of 11 players. To win a game of American football, a team must score more points than the opposition. The game is played with an oval ball, but it’s a lot smaller than a rugby ball. The ball is given to a quarterback, whose job is to throw the ball to his teammates in an attempt to score a touchdown. The team with possession has three opportunities to advance the ball 10 yards. If the team achieves 10 yards or more within the three attempts, the team then gets three further opportunities of advancing 10 yards. If a team fails to get the yards they need, possession will turn over to the other team, or the team with the ball can take a kick at the posts and attempt a field goal for three points. If a touchdown is scored, the team who has scored it gets six points. They then get the opportunity to kick the ball through the posts for an additional point.
Betting on NFL
American football is a great sport to bet on, with bettors being able to wager on a variety of markets. Bettors can simply bet on team A to beat team B, or they can bet on the spread. For example, the bookmakers might decide to give an underdog a 20-point lead before the start of the game. What this means is that if this team loses by a total of fewer than 20 points, your bet would be a winner. The spread can operate the other way – for example, you might want to bet on a team at minus 20. This means that in order to win the bet, this team must win by a total of 20 points. As well as the spread, bettors can bet on the over or under. This simply means that a bet is placed to predict whether the game will see over or under a certain number of points. For more information on the type of American football bets you can place, check out our very own NFL underdog picks.
