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Gridiron football (/ ˈ ɡ r ɪ d aɪ. ər n / GRID-eye-ərn), [1] also known as North American football, [2] or in North America as simply football, is a family of football team sports primarily played in the United States and Canada.
A football field as seen from behind one end zone. The tall, yellow goal posts mark where the ball must pass for a successful field goal or extra point. The large, rectangular area marked with the team name is the end zone. Football games are played on a rectangular field that measures 120 yards (110 m) long and 53 + 1 ⁄ 3 yards (48.
A standard football game consists of four 15-minute quarters (12-minute quarters in high-school football and often shorter at lower levels, usually one minute per grade [e.g. 9-minute quarters for freshman games]), [6] with a 12-minute half-time intermission (30 minutes in the Super Bowl) after the second quarter in the NFL (college halftimes are 20 minutes; in high school the interval is 15 ...
See also Gridiron football The word derives from the same root as griddle, meaning a "lattice". The original field was marked in a grid of crisscrossed lines; the ball would be snapped in the grid in which it was downed on the previous play. In modern usage, a gridiron is a surface with parallel lines.
A down in gridiron football is an attempt by the offensive team to run a play to advance the ball, while the defending team simultaneously attempts to halt their advance. The down is a distinguishing characteristic of the game compared to other codes of football, but is synonymous with the 6 "tackle" rule in rugby league.
The defensive and offensive lines square off prior to a snap. A hard count by a quarterback at the beginning of a gridiron football play is an audible snap count that uses an irregular, accented (thus, the term "hard") cadence.
In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line , while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line .
The snapper almost always passes the ball between his legs, but only in Canadian football is that required. In the standard gridiron football formation, the center/centre is the snapper and is situated in the middle of the line of scrimmage. Only in arena football is the center required by rule to be the