Entertainment / Football Glossary

Carry: Or carries is a statistic referring to the number of times a rushing player attempts to advance the ball. A ballcarrier can be any player that attempts to advance the ball during an offensiv . . . View Full Definition

Center (C): A player position on offense. The center usually snaps the ball. The middle lineman is not always the snapper.

Center-Eligible: A trick play (made famous by the film M*A*S*H[citation needed]) wherein at the snap, the entire offensive line is to one side of the center so that he is on the end and therefore is an eligi . . . View Full Definition

Chain: The 10-yard long chain that is used by the chain crew (aka 'chain gang') to measure for a new series of downs.

Checkdown: The checkdown pass is when the quarterback has to complete a short pass to a running back or tight end as a last resort to avoid a sack. Handling a checkdown situation is for a running back . . . View Full Definition

Chop Block: Similar to a cut block in which one offensive player blocks a defensive player below the knees and another blocks him above the waist. It is illegal to block low if a team mate is already en . . . View Full Definition

Chuck And Duck: A degrading way to refer to the Run And Shoot offensive strategy.

Clipping: An illegal block in which the victim is blocked from the back and at or below the waist; the penalty is 15 yards. Originally, clipping was defined as any block from the back, but is now rest . . . View Full Definition

Coffin Corner: The corner of the field of play. A punter, if he is close enough, will often attempt to kick the ball out of bounds close to the receiving team's goal line and pin them back near their own end zone.

Comeback Route: A receiver or tight end route where the player runs straight upfield a specified number of yards (could be a short or medium route), plants hard, and turns and runs back towards the sideline . . . View Full Definition

Complete Pass: A forward pass to a teammate who catches it in the air.

Completion Percentage: The percentage of passes thrown by a player that are completed. For example, if a running back throws one pass all season and completes it his completion percentage would be 100%.

Conferences: Groups into which teams are divided in professional and college football; the NFL is divided into National and American Conferences.

Contain: A defensive assignment. On outside runs such as the sweep, one defensive player (usually a cornerback or outside linebacker) is assigned to keep the rusher from getting to the edge of the pl . . . View Full Definition

Controlling The Game Clock: The use of tactics by an offensive team to either save or use up time on the game clock, which often dictates its choice of plays.

Cornerback (CB): A defensive back who lines up near the line of scrimmage across from a wide receiver. Their primary job is to disrupt passing routes and to defend against short and medium passes in the pass . . . View Full Definition

Counter: A running play in which the running back will take a step in the apparent direction of the play (ie, the direction the line is moving), only to get the handoff in the other direction. Weak s . . . View Full Definition

Cover: There are two general schemes for defending against the pass: Man-to-man, where each eligible receiver is covered by a defensive back or a linebacker and Zone, where certain players (usually . . . View Full Definition

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23