What is the purpose of the 10 yard "sticks in American Football?
813237
It's quite a distance from the hash-marks and crown of the field to the sidelines. If a play ends up close to the line to gain, the sticks are used to measure EXACTLY ten yards to aid the officials in making sure neither team is screwed by a bad spot.
816812
6 points for a touchdown (goal - getting the ball in the endzone). Another point for a successful point-after-touchdown (PAT - very short field goal try) 7 points total usually per touchdown. \n3 points for a field goal. If a team is stopped short of the goal line, but within kicking range, then they can kick a field goal through the uprights. \nThose are the two main ways to score.\n\n5,6,7 touchdowns aren't unheard of.
770551
Hi there...\n\nHere is the answer I found from the Word Detective site:\n\nThe use of "gridiron" as a metaphor for the football field, and, by extension, to the game itself, dates back to 1897. The original "gridirons" were just that: grids made of iron, used to cook fish or meat over an open fire. Early on in the history of football, someone in the cheap seats high in the stadium must have noticed that the parallel yardlines marking the field resembled a "gridiron," and so the metaphor was born. The first use of this sense of "gridiron" in print came in an account of the annual Harvard-Yale game carried in the Boston Herald.
757163
The forward lateral behind the line of scrimage is a type of flea flicker.  Here is how it goes. You run a horrible  fake to the running back. Nobody bites and sometimes nobody covers the running back (the defense is thinking deep pass).  The quarterback tosses the ball maybe 5 feet to the running back that has gone past the line of scrimmage.  Since it's a fairly short distance, an underhand pitch is probably the quickest way to deliver the ball and it doesn't show the defense immediately that the quarterback has gotten rid of the ball.  Brent  Farve would often fake throwing the ball after handing the ball off although it probably fooled nobody.\n\nThe quaterback can throw the ball backwards for the pitch, reverse and option and even as a standard handoff to a running running back.
1100856
Players have to be 10 yards from the ball for free kicks. This arc is for penalty kicks and is 10 yards from the penalty mark. For small-sided games for the younger kids, the idea is the same though the distance is shorter.
824837
Here is a simplified definition of American football.\n\nThe object of football is to score as many points as you can.  The team on offense, tries to score the points by getting the ball into the endzone.  They do this by either throwing or handing the ball to a player on their team.  The offensive player with the ball tries to run into the endzone for the score.  The defense tries to prevent this from happening by tackling the offensive ball carrier.  \n\nEach time the offense gets the ball into the endzone, they get 6 points.  After this score, a touchdown, a kicker tries to make an extra point by kicking the ball through the goal posts.  If the offense cannot get the touchdown, or move the ball ten yards forward in 3 tries, on the 4th try they can try to have the kicker kick the ball through the goal posts for 3 points.  If they are too far away, they must punt the ball to the defense, who will become the offense.\n\nThere are 11 players on offense, and 11 on defense.  \n\n(This is my first post, so I don't know how good this will be, but I hope it helps.  I left out many of the more detailed and complicated rules to explain the basic gameplay.)
859638
Yes, but that secario would never occur where you would want to do that because:\n\nA) If you are in field goal range (Roughly on the 40Yrd Line or closer) a punt would easily go into the endzone. You're better trying for the field goal if u can make it or just punt if u can't. A fake fieldgoal-punt would still be a touchback so no use in faking.\n\nB)If you are out of range they will obviously send a man back to return the short fieldgoal so it is essentially the same as a punt.\n\nYes you can but it wouldn't help you.
378738
when on offense the team has to gain ten yards from where the ball is first spotted in order to get a fresh set of downs.  They have 4 chances to move the ball ten yards.
79213
A touchdown is the primary method of scoring in American and Canadian football, in which the ball carrier causes the football to break the plane of the end zone, or an eligible receiver catches a forward pass in the end zone, thus earning 6 points for his team (in both codes). \n\nA touchdown is worth 6 points.\n\nI should also mention that you have this posted in the Baseball area. While a touchdown is referring to the sport of Football.
1048128
Kyle Boller Cannot throw 80 yards on his knees.  He can however through the ball through the goal post from 50 yards away which is still amazing.  Thats the equivalent of throwing a ball almost 60 yards from your knees.  If you ask some football players from the University of California I am sure someone has seen it, or has it on tape.  I haven't seen the footage myself, but I am told by an ex-Cal player that he has seen Kyle throw a ball through the goal posts from the 40 yard line...when you add the 10 yards for the endzone it makes it a 50 yard throw that travels nearly 60 yards in order to make it through goal posts.
1090440
It is used to keep track of the down for the play.  The head referee is the only one that wears it.   He is the one that places the football on the line of scrimmage to start the play.
751072
98 yards by Steve O'Neal.  It actually can't be broken because to get the max yardage the team has to punt from their one yard line and have to go to the opponents one yard line. Take away those two yards and the longest it can be is 98 yards.  If it is 99 yards then that means it goes into the endzone which is a touchback.
498132
Why would you post such a question in "American Football?"
885789
Yes. As long as the ball is kicked beyond 10 yards. Once that occurs, whether by onside kick or regular kick, it is a live ball. During the time I played there were several times that the receiving team just let the ball go, expecting it to go out the back of the end zone. When it did not, the kicking team was able to grab it and score a touchdown.\nAlso, the other way it can be recovered by the kicking team is if a member of receiving team touches it, whether the ball passes 10 yards or not.
1078109
Some of this has already been addressed:\n\n1.  Down by contact in the NFL; down if knee touches in college.\n2.  Pass interference is a spot foul in the NFL; in college, it's a spot foul up to 15 yards.\n3.  No 2-minute warning in college football.\n4.  No 5-yard illegal contact rule in college football.\n5.  Receiver must have 2 feet down in the NFL and catches count if the receiver is pushed out of bounds but would have come down in bounds; in college, only have to get one foot down but defender can push receiver out of bounds to make pass incomplete.\n6.  Overtime rules are vastly different.  In pros, play is as in regulation with the first team scoring winning; if no one scores in 15 minutes, the game ends in a tie.  In college, each team is given one possession from the opponent's 25 yard line.  If the score is still tied, it continues until there is a difference.  Beginning with the third OT, teams must go for 2 point conversion after a TD.\n7.  Goal posts are wider in college than in the pros, and the hash marks are not lined up with the goalposts (they are wider).
678354
What does this have to do with American Football?
842822
football players only have 4 tries to get the ball past a certain yard marking. each of these 4 tries is called a down. if they don't make it to the mark on the first try, then they have a 2nd down (they might call it "2nd and 10", meaning it's the 2nd down and they have 10 yards to go before they reach the next mark). if they don't make it on the 2nd down, then they go to a 3rd down, etc. if it gets to a 4th down and they still don't make it to the mark, then the ball goes to the other team's possession.