American football (known in America simply as "football") is a competitive team sport known for mixing strategy with intense physical play. The object of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's "end zone." (There are end zones at each end of the playing field, and each team defends theirs.) The ball can be advanced by carrying it (a "running play") or by throwing it to a teammate (a "passing play"). Points can be scored in a variety of ways, including carrying the ball over the "goal line" into the end zone, catching a pass beyond the goal line, tackling an opposing ball carrier in his own end zone, or kicking the ball through the "goal posts" at the end zone. The winner is the team with the most points when time expires at the end of the last play.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "American football" and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.