Offense
In American football, the offense is the side which is in possession of the ball. It is their job to advance the ball towards the opponent's end zone to score points. Broadly speaking, the eleven players of the offense are broken into two groups: the five offensive linemen, whose primary job is to block, and the six backs and receivers whose primary job is advance the ball by means of either running with the ball or passing it. The backs and receivers are also commonly known as skill position players or as eligible ball carriers (offensive linemen are not normally eligible to advance the ball during each play).
The organization of the offense is strictly mandated by the rules; there must be at least seven players on the line of scrimmage and no more than four players (known collectively as "backs") behind it on every play. The only players eligible to handle the ball during a normal play are the backs and the two players on the end of the line. The remaining players (known as "interior linemen") are considered "ineligible", and may only block. Within these strictures, however, creative coaches have developed a wide array of offensive formations to take advantage of different player skills and game situations.
The following positions are standard in nearly every game, though different teams will use different arrangements of them.
Read more about this topic: American Football Positions
Famous quotes containing the word offense:
“There is something in the breast of almost every man, which at bottom takes offense at the attentions of any other man offered to a woman, the hope of whose nuptial love he himself may have discarded. Fain would a man selfishly appropriate all the hearts which have ever in any way confessed themselves his.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Crude men who feel themselves insulted tend to assess the degree of insult as high as possible, and talk about the offense in greatly exaggerated language, only so they can revel to their heart’s content in the aroused feelings of hatred and revenge.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“You who have condemned me, I know your kind. Your forebears poisoned Socrates, burned Joan of Arc, hanged, tortured all those whose only offense was to bring light into darkness.”
—Karl Brown (1897–1990)