American football plays

In American football a play is a close to the ground "plan of action" or "strategy" used to move the ball down the field. A play occurs at either the snap from the center or at kickoff. Most commonly plays occur at the snap during a down. These plays range from basic to very complicated. Football players keep a record of these plays in their playbook.

A play begins in one of two ways:

Once the play begins, it will continue until one of the following events happens:

When the play ends, the ball is set for the next play. For the first three instances above, the ball is set at the point of its maximum forward progress. That means that if a runner is driven back in the process of a tackle OR is ruled down by lack of forward progress, the ball is placed as close to his opponent's goal line as he had gotten before being driven back. If he runs backwards of his own volition, the ball is marked where he goes down. In the case of an incomplete pass, the ball is placed at the previous line of scrimmage.

Play then resumes as described above.

The offensive team must have seven players on the line of scrimmage at the start of a play. Those players may be positioned at any place along the line of scrimmage (which extends all of the way across the playing field).

The defensive team may position as many as 11 players on the line of scrimmage. Usually, there are from 3 to 8 defensive players on the line of scrimmage.

In a running play, the ball is advanced beyond the line of scrimmage by a player who receives it from behind the line of scrimmage. The player advancing the ball can be:

or

Also called dive, plunge, buck, guts, slam or numerous other names. The most basic run play is a run up the middle. In this case, the ball is handed off from the quarterback to a running back. The back then aims for a predetermined hole between his offensive linemen. This hole can be either between center and guard or between guard and tackle. The offensive line will run block, pushing defenders away from the chosen hole. Often, the fullback will lead block through the hole first to clear a path for the half back or running back.

The 'bread-and-butter' of a run-oriented offense, this is typically the most common run play. Rather than aiming for a hole in the line, the running back aims for the spot just outside the tackle. This type of play allows for more improvisation by the running back once he is past the line, since there is often more open field in this area than in any run up the middle.

In a toss play, the RB "curves out" towards the sideline on either side and the QB pitches ("tosses") the ball to the RB.

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