It’s that time of year again, when your significant other can’t pull himself away from the television on Sunday afternoons.
It’s football season.

And there you are, trying to support him by watching the “big” game, trying to understand why he is getting so upset at the television, why he has his face painted, and why he is dressed up in his favorite team gear - as if he expects the coach to call him off the couch and into the game.

Many women know football well; if you know what touchbacks and declined penalties are, you can already hold your own in any football-related conversation.

For women who don’t know much about America’s game, what follows is a quick primer of football terms you’ll probably hear at the Superbowl party - and by knowing them, you’ll be able to surprise everyone with your keen understanding of the game.

THE GAME CLOCK.

A football game is made up of four 15-minute quarters. After the second quarter, there is a 12-minute intermission called “Halftime.” In the event of a tie after the fourth quarter, the teams will play a 15-minute sudden death overtime period. Here, the first team to score wins the game (and don’t ask why they just don’t do that in the beginning to get the game over with). You’ll also notice that, although there is only an hour on the game clock, the game occupies about three hours of real time. This is because the clock is only running during formal plays, and the clock stops for all sorts of reasons under game rules.

THE ROSTER.

Each game day roster consists of 52 players from each team. Normally, not all 52 from each team play - unless the team is really, really bad. There are a total of 22 players on the field at one time, 11 from each team. The team that has the ball is “on offense” and the team trying to get the ball from them is “on defense.”

THE COIN TOSS.

At the beginning of the game there is a coin toss, and the team winning the toss gets to decide if they want to start the game on offense or defense.

THE KICKOFF.

The team starting on defense begins the game by kicking the ball toward the offensive team. They try to kick the ball as far down field as they can, so the offensive team has farther to return it in order to score. If the ball is caught in the end zone (the part of the field at the end with the team logos in it) and isn’t carried out, referees call it a “touchback” and the offensive team starts with the ball 20 yards from their end zone.

THE OBJECTIVE.

Once the offensive team has the ball, the objective is to move the ball down the field and score either a touchdown (six points) or a field goal (three points).

They can do this by either throwing or running the football. The team has four chances, called downs, to move the ball a total of 10 yards toward the defenders’ end zone. If they pick up the 10 yards, they receive a new set of downs. So if you see the words, “2nd and 4 on 38” on the screen, that means the offense is on its second try to make 10 yards, they still have four yards to go, and the ball is on the 38-yard line.

Most televised games display a yellow or blue line on the screen, to indicate where the ball must cross to reach the 10-yard goal.

The offense keeps doing this until they can run or throw the ball to one of their players in the defender’s end zone (a touchdown) or get close enough to kick the ball between the posts at the back of the end zone (a field goal).

If it doesn’t look like the offense will get their 10 yards in four downs, they have the option to punt, or kick, the ball to the other team. When this happens, the offensive team is giving up the ball, but kicks it far into the defense’s territory. Unlike a kickoff, only one defensive player goes far into the backfield to catch the ball. The others line up against the punting team, since an offense can pretend to punt to mislead a defense.

THE POSSESSION.

After any team scores, punts, or intercepts the ball, the offensive team goes on defense and the defensive team goes on offense. Since players usually specialize in offense or defense, a different 22 players scurry onto the field when this happens.

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