Friday, August 12, 2011

Football is Back, Baby!

Football is back, baby!

Preseason started last night, with five games.


So what do we know so far?

The time spent since the lockout ended has been volatile, with free agents up for grabs and teams ready and willing to grab them. Training camps opened, and cuts have already begun. Team size must be down to 45 active players by September 8, when the regular season begins. Teams are also allowed 8 inactive players, for a total of 53 players.

The games last night, and the upcoming preseason games, are a chance for the teams to try out their new players and get them used to the team’s style of play.

In Denver Kyle Orton, Brady Quinn, and Tim Tebow are the quarterbacks. Kyle quarterbacked a few plays, then Brady and Tim played the rest of the game. Tim is the newest addition to the team, signing with the Broncos in 2010 and having his rookie season last year, and has the most need of seasoning. There has been a lot of talk about the “quarterback controversy” between Kyle and Tim; while Tim was a star at the University of Florida and won the Heisman Trophy, he needs to work on his game to get it to the level necessary for the NFL. To me, the biggest “controversy” is between those who think Tim is the next biggest thing to hit the NFL, and those who believe his college performance won’t translate into similar performance in the NFL.

The Dallas Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos with a touchdown pass and two-point conversion, with 15 seconds left in the game. The two-point conversion allowed Dallas to win the game outright with a total of 8 points scored, instead of the usual 7. If they had gone instead with kicking a PAT (Point After Touchdown) to tie the game, it would then have gone into overtime.

Teams are allowed one chance to get extra points after a touchdown. Most often, the ball is kicked through the uprights for one extra point. Sometimes the extra points come from a two-point conversion. In this play, the quarterback either passes the ball to a player in the end zone or hands the ball off to a runner. If the ball is caught in the end zone, or the runner crosses the goal line, two points are scored.

Five games are being played tonight:



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