Nearing the End!!

BUFFALO BILLS TAKE ANOTHER WIN 

Buffalo Bills walked away big winners after playing the San Fransisco 49ers this Sunday! The score was 45-16 and they played at home at the New Era field, making this their first four game winning streak since 2008! LeSean McCoy was the all-star of the game as he rushed three touchdowns and got 140 yards for the team. This was impressive as LeSean McCoy was injured in a play in the first half, and returned in the third quarter...thank goodness he did or who knows what the score would have been!

For one of my last blog posts, I am going to outline a little bit more about the scoring system in the NFL as I have found it slightly confusing while watching it because I cannot say that until this point I have a clear grasp! While I do know that the team who scores the most points is the winning team, I do not have a full comprehension of which plays count for which number of points.

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First and foremost, and something that makes sense to me, is that scoring a touchdown gives your team the greatest number of points, which is SIX. A touchdown is when the ball is either caught or carried into the opposing team's end zone and it does not have to touch the ground. Right after a touchdown, the ball is then placed on the opponent's two-yard line and the offense has an option to either kick the ball through the field goal posts or to run it into the end zone again. Most teams choose to kick the ball, but some will choose to run the ball because it will give your team two points, rather than one. This play is called the Extra Point or the Two Point Conversion.

A field goal, which is a basic component of the game of football, usually happens on the fourth down when a team can kick for a field goal instead of trying to make it to the next down or for a touchdown. A field goal is worth 3 points and they can be kicked from anywhere on the field, usually taking place within the 45 yard line. The ball must be kicked through the goal-post uprights and over the crossbar, and the defense usually tries to block the ball from being kicked or from reaching the goal post.

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The last way to score points in football is called a Safety, which rewards 2 points to the team. A safety is when the offensive ball carrier gets tackled behind their own goal line.

Now all I have to do is remember how many points are rewarded to which plays and I will hopefully be ready to watch a football game without asking any questions! This will also hopefully help me in discussions regarding football as at least I have been following one team, so I know how well they are doing in their division!

BILLS WIN AT GILLETTE STADIUM 16-0

This week the Buffalo Bills won against the New England Patriots, making their season 2-2 by defeating a team they were not forecasted to win against! Even better, until this Sunday, the Patriots had only ever been defeated on their home field two times since the stadium opened in 2002, and was the first time they had ever been shutout at home. After this Sunday, the Bills have now defeated two preseason Super Bowl favourites in two weeks!! They are definitely on a roll that I hope just continues!

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Now time to dive into the Defensive positions:

The defensive team is the team that is not in possession of the ball, their job is to prevent the other team from scoring by forcing the other team to turn the ball over or by preventing them from achieving a first down. What is interesting about the defensive team as opposed to the offensive is that rules do not restrict the defensive team into certain positions as they can line up anywhere on the line of scrimmage and do any action. There is the defensive line, linebackers, and defensive backs who make up the defensive team on the field.

The Defensive Line is composed of Defensive Tackles and Defensive Ends, who line up directly on the line of scrimmage. The Defensive Tackle rushes the passer and stops running plays directed at the middle of the line of scrimmage. Most defensive sets have one or two defensive tackles.

The Defensive Ends play next to the Defensive Tackles on either side as there are two of them. They also attack the passer or stop offensive runs but more towards the outer edges of the line of scrimmage. The faster of them is usually on the right side of the defensive line because that is a right-handed quarterback's blind side.

Linebackers play behind the defensive line and perform different duties like rushing the passer, covering receivers, and defending against the run. There are two kinds of Linebackers; Middle Linebackers and Outside Linebackers. Middle Linebackers are usually the primary defensive play callers and must be versatile to react to a wide variety of situations. Middle linebackers must be able to stop running backs that make it past the defensive line, cover plays over the middle, and rushing the quarterback.

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Outside Linebackers are on the outside of the linebackers on the left and right side. They usually line up on the same side as the offensive tight end and is responsible to cover them and running back on pass plays.

Defensive Backs are also known as the 'secondary' play behind the linebackers or near the sidelines, primarily used to defend against pass plays by trying to intercept or prevent passing the ball. The Defensive Backs are composed of Cornerbacks, Safety, and the Nickleback and Dimeback. There are typically two players that are Cornerbacks whose job is to prevent successful quarterback passes. When the play is rushed, their job is to contain the runner.

The Safeties are the last line of Defense (probably why they're called that!) and they usually help the corners with deep pass coverage. The Strong Safety is usually the larger of the two and provides the extra protection, whereas the Free Safety is usually the smaller and fastest.

The Nickleback or Dimeback is for when the defense want to remove a linebacker or defensive lineman to bring in extra pass coverage for extra protection. Maybe this is where Nickleback gets their name from!!!

Nevertheless, these are the defensive positions in football, and who we are all talking about when we yell DE-FENSE at the Ralph Wilson Stadium!!