Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The 10 Greatest NFL Quarterbacks of All Time

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Second only to the U.S. President, the NFL quarterback is the most glamorous, if not important, job in the country. In addition to the hopes and dreams of his team, the quarterback carries the flag for entire cities, regions, and metaphorically, ways of life. The pressure is unreal, considering the fact that sports-obsessed Americans look to the gridiron gladiator for strength, controlled violence, and an escape from the routine fare of the daily grind. The quarterback is viewed as the one member of the entourage that combines leadership, intelligence, and strategic thought alongside brute force to control games and emerge victorious.

NFL teams sell their collective souls to trade up at the draft, or wheel and deal at the free agent marketplace to land that once-in-a-lifetime franchise quarterback opportunity. Certainly, today’s NFL fanatics are privy to the circus atmosphere that has surrounded Cleveland Browns’ rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel. The outrageous hype is largely based on potential — for now, Manziel is the solid number 2 behind incumbent veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer.

Sports fans, of course, recognize that the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time emerge as icons that define cities, dynasties, and eras. In order to be defined as great, the signal caller must combine top-shelf mechanics with game-time smarts and decision making. Beyond the nuts and bolts of execution, the quarterback must have “it.” Best described as the ability to win, “it” is the poise to lead comeback drives, refuse to back down from raging linebackers, and inspire offensive linemen and teammates to lay it on the line and go to war, day in and day out. Further, “it” is a style and flair that matches success on the field, with the ideals of a nation off the field.

Indeed, the term “quarterback” entices the imagination to personify “all that is right” with America. Let’s introduce the top ten greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time after the jump. All stats are from Pro-Football-Reference.com.

Which College Football Conference Has Won the Most National Title?

Which College Football Conference Has Won the Most National Titles?

May 19, 2015

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

In the constantly evolving world of college football, it has become difficult to keep track of which schools are in which conferences. What’s even more difficult is tracking national championships through the years in the division that is now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision. Prior to the Bowl Championship Series, and now the College Football Playoff, there were numerous outlets that crowned national champions, which has convoluted college football’s history books.

Using only national championships that are recognized by the National Collegiate Athletics Association, I compiled a list of the conferences with the most football national championships of all-time. It is important to note that the Ivy League no longer plays at the FBS level, but their national titles that are included were won when they were playing at college football’s highest level. Also, this list reflects current conference alignment and some national championships may have been won when teams were members of other conferences.

So, which conference has the most national championships of all-time? Here is a look at the total number of football national championships won by each conference.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Football star Bobby Bell to get Minnesota degree at age 74

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Most people in the University of Minnesota's college of education and human development class of 2015 will be pondering their futures.

Bobby Bell's lifelong goal will be reached by walking across the stage.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker will graduate Thursday from Minnesota, 52 years after his college career was done. The 74-year-old Bell recently returned to the school he left 13 credits short of a degree in recreation, park and leisure studies. The university guided him toward fulfillment of the promise he once made to his late father in North Carolina.

Bell helped lead the Gophers to the 1960 national championship and a 1962 Rose Bowl victory, before a 12-year career with the Kansas City Chiefs that included a Super Bowl title and six All-Pro selections.

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Monday, May 11, 2015

Tom Brady Suspended 4 Games

Tom Brady has been suspended the first 4 games of the 2015 NFL season for his role in Deflategate ... TWICE the suspension the league initially gave Ray Rice for beating a woman.

The NFL just issued a statement saying, "Tom Brady will be suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2015 regular season for conduct detrimental to the integrity of the NFL."

"Brady may participate in all off-season, training camp and pre-season activities, including pre-season games."

The league also dropped the hammer on the New England Patriots -- hitting the team with a $1 MILLION fine ... and taking away their 1st round pick in the 2016 Draft and their 4th round pick in 2017.

The two locker room attendants who are believed to have deflated the balls have also been suspended indefinitely without pay.

In a letter to Brady, NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent explained the league found "substantial and credible evidence to conclude you were at least generally aware of the actions of the Patriots’ employees involved in the deflation of the footballs and that it was unlikely that their actions were done without your knowledge."

"Moreover, the report documents your failure to cooperate fully and candidly with the investigation, including by refusing to produce any relevant electronic evidence (emails, texts, etc.), despite being offered extraordinary safeguards by the investigators to protect unrelated personal information, and by providing testimony that the report concludes was not plausible and contradicted by other evidence."

"Your actions as set forth in the report clearly constitute conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the game of professional football."

So far, no comment from Brady.

Magic Johnson just spoke out on the suspension -- saying. "The Commissioner came down hard & fair."

Eli Manning told Ralph Vacchiano of the NY Daily News ... "It is about integrity and you have to follow the rules. If someone’s breaking rules they’re going to get punished."

He added, " "In no way am I glad to see this happen."

Will Smith tweeted ... "Tom Brady suspended 4 games, Thats Interesting!!!!"

Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount -- "THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!! SMH 😡 #PATSNATION STAND UP!!!!!"

Donald Trump -- "They had no definitive proof against Tom Brady or #patriots. If Hillary doesn't have to produce Emails, why should Tom? Very unfair!"

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/#ixzz3ZsMKS8bP

American Football Positions

The following diagram shows you football positions in Big Picture mode.

For the moment, forget about the individual labels on our football positions. Just notice that the players on the field are broken up into two teams of eleven men each, the offense (who are trying to move the football down the field into the end zone) and the defense, who are trying to stop them.

Between them, as you can see, is the line of scrimmage. Although indeed there arelines drawn across the football field, the line of scrimmage is not one of them. The line of scrimmage is, in fact, an imaginary line that is used to indicate where each play will begin, with the offensive football positions set on one side of the line, and the defensive football positions set on the other. All lined up and ready to rumble!

Except when the play is begun by kicking the ball to the opposition (at the beginning of the game, after the halftime break, after points have been scored, and when the offense has failed to make the required ten yard minimum in their series of downs). Then they have a longer way to run before the . . . errr . . . rumbling can begin.

Okay, then. The first breakdown of football positions is into the broad categories ofoffensive team versus defensive team.

Within these two broad categories of football positions, there are, for both offense and defense, two more broad categories: line and backfield.

For the team on offense (i.e., the team with the ball), the responsibility of the linemen is to protect the backs so that they can get free to move the ball down the field.

The 'head back,' by the way, is the quarterback. He's sort of the general of the offense. He 'calls plays,' which means he yells out a code at the beginning of each play that tells the rest of the team what the game plan is, and what their individual assignments will be.

The responsibility of the backs is to move the ball forward either by running with it, or 'getting open,' i.e., free from the defense, so that they can catch the ball if it is thrown to them (usually by the quarterback).

Since only one player can have the ball at a time, the backs without the ball can also help protect the back with the ball, or they can be used as decoys to confuse the defense, a common ploy in American football.

Of course, the defense has the opposite assignment, i.e., they are trying to break through the offensive line and stop the backs from moving the ball.

The defensive backs are pretty much the 'opposite number' of the offensive backs, and may try to stop them by being assigned one man to 'cover' (i.e., control or stop), or by setting up zones of coverage so that the assignment passes from one defensive back to another as the offensive back moves down the field.

Now, you probably noticed that all the little players in our diagram have been labeled. But did you notice that there are a few labels left laying around (like 'Nickel Back' and 'Defensive Tackle') that haven't been stuck on any of the players?

The reason for this is that sometimes football positions are given names unique to the specific formation being used.

Formations, for future reference, are designed plays, rather like choreography in the dance world, in which positions are moved around in an attempt to gain strategic advantage.

And yes: we'll get to that. But we said we'd give you the basics first, and getting into plays and formations now would be like trying to master a souffle before you learn how to boil an egg.

Bu don't worry. You can watch a whole game without knowing if someone's a nickel back. So for now, stay with learning to recognize offense, defense, line and backfield. Unless and until you're hankering to coach the Dallas Cowboys, that's really all you need to know about football positions.

And remember: understanding the game is just a stepping stone. You'll see. Jumping from football positions to football for lovers is really gonna be a breeze!

What Football Playing Field White Lines Mean

White lines on a football field are critical to playing the game. By knowing what yard lines, hash lines, and end lines represent, you’ll have an easier time following the game.

The dimensions of a football field haven’t changed much through the years. The field has been 100 yards long and 531/3 yards wide since 1881. In 1912, the two end zones were established to be 10 yards deep and have remained so ever since. Consequently, all football games are played on a rectangular field, 360 feet long and 160 feet wide.

All over the field, you see a bunch of white lines. Every line has a special meaning, as shown here:

Football playing field

The lines at each end of the field are called the end lines.
The lines along each side of the field are called the sidelines.
The goal lines are 10 yards inside and parallel to each end line.
The area bounded by the goal lines and sidelines is known as the field of play.
The field is divided in half by the 50-yard line, which is located in the middle of the field.
The two areas bounded by the goal lines, end lines, and sidelines are known as the end zones.

The field also contains yard lines, hash marks, and lines marking the player benches.

Yard lines, at intervals of 5 yards, run parallel to the goal lines and are marked across the field from sideline to sideline. These lines stop 8 inches short of the 6-foot solid border in the NFL.

Yard lines give players and fans an idea of how far a team must advance the ball in order to record a first down. An offensive team must gain 10 yards in order to post a first down. Consequently, every 10 yards, starting from the goal lines, the field is numbered in multiples of 10.

In the NFL, the bottoms of these numbers are placed 12 yards from each sideline. The numbers 10, 20, 30, 40, and one 50-yard line are 2 yards in length. All these lines and numbers are white.

Hash marks mark each yard line 70 feet, 9 inches from the sidelines in the NFL. In high school and college football, the hash marks are only 60 feet from the sidelines. Two sets of hash marks (each hash is 1 yard in length) run parallel to each other down the length of the field and are approximately 18½ feet apart.

When the ball carrier is either tackled or pushed out of bounds, the officials return the ball in-bounds to the closest hash mark to where it’s spotted. Punted balls that go out of bounds are also marked on the nearest hash mark.

The hash marks are used for ball placement prior to most offensive plays so that more of the game can be played in the middle of the field, which makes the game more wide open. If the ball was placed 20 feet from where it went out of bounds rather than on the closest hash mark, offenses would be restricted to one open side of the field for many of their run and pass plays.

In other words, they would have to run or pass to the right or the left, and wouldn’thave the option to do both. But, when teams run the football and the ball carrier is tackled between the hash marks, the ball is declared dead at that spot and generally is placed where the ball carrier was tackled and stopped.

Player Positions in American Football

When two opposing American football teams meet on the gridiron (playing field), the player positions depend on whether the football team is playing offense or defense. Football pits the offense, the team with the ball, against the defense, which tries to prevent the offense from scoring. Each side lines up facing the other with the football in the middle.
The players on the offensive side of the ball include the
Quarterback: The leader of the team. He calls the plays in the huddle, yells the signals at the line of scrimmage, and receives the ball from the center. Then he hands off the ball to a running back, throws it to a receiver, or runs with it.
Center: The player who snaps the ball to the quarterback. He handles the ball on every play.
Running back: A player who runs with the football. Running backs are also referred to as tailbacks, halfbacks, and rushers.
Fullback: A player who's responsible for blocking for the running back and also for pass-blocking to protect the quarterback. Fullbacks, who are generally bigger than running backs, are short-yardage runners.
Wide receiver: A player who uses his speed and quickness to elude defenders and catch the football. Teams use as many as two to four wide receivers on every play.
Tight end: A player who serves as a receiver and also as a blocker. This player lines up beside the offensive tackle to the right or the left of the quarterback.
Left guard and right guard: The inner two members of the offensive line, whose jobs are to block for and protect the quarterback and ball carriers.
Left tackle and right tackle: The outer two members of the offensive line.
The players on the defensive side of the ball include the
Defensive tackle: The inner two members of the defensive line, whose jobs are to maintain their positions in order to stop a running play or run through a gap in the offensive line to pressure the quarterback or disrupt the backfield formation.
Defensive end: The outer two members of the defensive line. Generally, their jobs are to overcome offensive blocking and meet in the backfield, where they combine to tackle the quarterback or ball carrier. On running plays to the outside, they're responsible for forcing the ball carrier either out of bounds or toward (into) the pursuit of their defensive teammates.
Linebacker: These players line up behind the defensive linemen and generally are regarded as the team's best tacklers. Depending on the formation, most teams employ either three or four linebackers on every play. Linebackers often have the dual role of defending the run and the pass.
Safety: The players who line up the deepest in the secondary — the last line of defense. There are free safeties and strong safeties, and they must defend the deep pass and the run.
Cornerback: The players who line up on the wide parts of the field, generally opposite the offensive receivers.