Let’s face it, most people in the UK only tune into American Football when the Super Bowl is on because it’s free to watch on the BBC and there’s a good chance of seeing a famous singer or two perform at half-time.
Yes, it is a large commitment to watch the entire game in the UK when it finishes at 3am on a Monday morning and you’ve got work in six hours, even if you find yourself working from home these days.
I may not be selling Sunday night’s game to the casual viewer or fans of the NFL so far, but here is a beginner’s guide to the Super Bowl, and more importantly why you should tune in to Super Bowl LV.
I don’t understand American Football, explain the game to me simply?
American Football is played by two teams of 11 players on a 120-yard, rectangular field with goal lines on each end and two luminous yellow goal frames. The game is sixty minutes and is split into two halves, with four 15-minute quarters making up the game. The aim is to outscore your opponents, simple so far.
The offense (team with possession of the ball), attempts to advance the ball down the field by running or passing the ball, while the opposing team aims to stop their advance and tries to take control of the ball.
Ultimately, the offense have four downs (four opportunities) per possession to advance at least 10 yards, should they succeed they get another four downs to move a further 10 yards. If they fall short of gaining 10 yards, they turn over possession. Most teams will opt to use their fourth down to punt the ball in order to gain some territory on the field before the opposing team mount an attack.
Both teams have specific players to fill roles in offense and defense, offense players include the Quarterback who control the play, players such as Tom Brady. The defense play an important role as they look to disrupt the advancing team and requires more physical players to tackle and block the play.
How do you score?
The best way to score points in American Football is to score a touchdown, where a player must carry the ball across the opposition’s goal line or catch a pass in the end zone. Once the ball crosses the goal line whilst it is in a player’s possession, it is scored a touchdown. A touchdown is worth six points. The team scoring a touchdown is given the bonus of trying to add one or two more points. These are called extra-point conversion attempts.
The most common in the one-point conversion, which involves kicking the ball through the goal posts from the fifteen-yard line. If a team elects to go for two extra points, they will line up at the two-yard line and make one attempt at either running or passing the ball into the end zone. If the team makes it, the team is awarded two points. If the team does not make it, then no extra points are awarded.
Field goals are another way for a team to score points in the game, and it is worth three points, like a drop goal or penalty in Rugby Union. A team in a fourth-down situation might decide to attempt a field goal if they feel that the distance is too far to attempt scoring a touchdown. This means that the offense feels that its special teams’ kicker is within a comfortable range of kicking the ball between the upright bars of the goal post in the opponent’s end zone.
A team can also pick up two points by tackling an opponent possessing the ball in the opponent’s end zone. This is called a safety, but this is quite a rare method of scoring.
What is the Super Bowl?
The Super Bowl was first held in 1967 as a game between the champions of the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL). The NFL was the inception league of American Football and was founded in 1920, whilst the AFL was a rival league that was set up in 1960.
The first four Super Bowls were games between the best two teams from the separate leagues until the AFL merged into the NFL in 1970. The two former leagues were re-established into two conferences under the banner of NFL, the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC)
Since Super Bowl V in 1971, the game has been between one team from the NFC and one team from the AFC. Roman numerals are used to identify Super Bowls rather than the year because the post season enters a new year as the season is September to February. Since 2004, the Super Bowl has been held on the first weekend of February.
The Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event in the US in terms of viewership, with Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 setting a record for the most watched television-broadcast in US history with 114.4 million people viewing the New England Patriots defeat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24.
Due to the viewership, the Super Bowl is a lucrative market for advertisers. For Super Bowl LIV last year, a 30 second advert cost $5.6 million. The famous half time show has been a staple in the Super Bowl since its inception, but it wasn’t until 1991 when mainstream pop and rock artists performed. This year sees The Weeknd take centre stage on Sunday night.
What is a team’s route to the Super Bowl?
There are 32 teams in the NFL and they are split into two conferences, the NFC and AFC. A Supercomputer decides fixtures as teams only play 16 games across the 17 weeks that make up the regular season, with each team having a bye week. Here is how fixtures are set:
- Six games against divisional opponents — two games per team, one at home and one on the road.
- Four games against teams from a division within its conference — two games at home and two on the road.
- Four games against teams from a division in the other conference— two games at home and two on the road.
- Two games against teams from the two remaining divisions in its own conference — one game at home and one on the road. Matchups are based on division ranking from the previous season.
NFL seasons start on the first week after Labor Day (a public holiday on the first weekend of September), with the regular season finishing in the first week of January.
After Week 17, the NFL transitions from the regular season to the Play Offs. Also referred to as the postseason, the format were altered slightly this season slightly to include 14 teams instead of 12, 7 from each conference. The best ranked side from each conference were given a bye to the 2nd round (Divisional round). The other 6 teams face opponents from their own conference in the first round, called the Wild card round. In previous seasons the top 2 seeds were given byes to the Divisional round.
The teams are ranked and seeded based on their regular season record, with the 2nd seeds facing the 7th seed, 3rd seed playing the 6th seed and 4th seed facing the 5th seed. The highest seeds all have home advantage as a reward for having a better record over the course of the regular season. Win and you progress to the next round, lose and you go home.
The Divisional round introduces the first seeds and they have automatic home advantage, they face the lowest ranked team that progress from the Wild Car round in their conference. The other tie is made up from the other two teams progressing from the Wild card round, with the highest team in that match up playing the game at their home ground.
The final round before the Super Bowl is called the Conference round as only two teams from each conference by this point are left in postseason. The best ranked team who progresses from the Divisional round hosts the game, with the winner advancing to the Super Bowl.
What is the difference between conferences and divisions?
There are two conferences in the NFL, the AFC and NFC. These were formerly separate and competing organisations, known as the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL).
Each conference has 16 teams split into 4 divisions; North, East, South and West. These are largely decided by geographical location although there are some peculiar teams in divisions (I’m looking at you Miami Dolphins).
Who are the most successful teams?
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots both have six Super Bowl wins, although the Patriots have appeared in 11 Super Bowls compared to Steelers 8.
Super Bowl LV sees the Kansas City Chiefs face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Chiefs have won 2 Super Bowls and are the defending Champions, the Bucs have only won once and that was in their only other appearance back in 2002.
Why is it called the Vince Lombardi Trophy?
Vince Lombardi was the coach of the Green Bay Packers and led the team to victory in Super Bowl I & II in 1967 and 1968 respectively. He previously led the team to 3 NFL Championships in 1961, 1962 and 1965 before the big game existed. When Vince passed away in September 1970, the NFL decided to name the trophy as tribute to the coach.
Why should I watch the Super Bowl?
Even as a casual fan of the NFL I do tend to enjoy the Super Bowl. Yes, it is a long game and does require some commitment to a late night, but it is between two of the best teams across the season. This edition is a particularly tasty affair because it could be the last time we’ll see Tom Brady play competitively.
Brady is definitely a leading candidate in the discussions of GOAT players, but having won 6 Super Bowls with the England Patriots, he transferred to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who play in a different conference, and led them to their first play offs since their Super Bowl win in 2002. Not only did the Bucs make the play offs, but they have reached the Super Bowl in spite of being fifth seeds and playing all three of their playoff games away from home.
The game pitches 43-year-old Brady against the upcoming talent of Patrick Mahomes, who has already had one MVP season and a Super Bowl victory before he turned 25. He’ll be looking to make it two in a row on Sunday and the Kansas City Chiefs will enter the game favourites, but Tampa Bay are in a unique situation where they are the first team to play a Super Bowl game in their own stadium. This has all the hallmarks of a great game between two strong teams with influential QBs looking to dictate the play.
