American football line of scrimmage, prior to a play

Canadian football line of scrimmage, prior to a play

In American and Canadian football a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line crossing the football field across its narrower dimension, beyond which a team cannot cross until the next play has begun. American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with In accordance with the Manual of Style (see) Canadian English is used throughout this article (see Canadian_English#Spelling) American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with In accordance with the Manual of Style (see) Canadian English is used throughout this article (see Canadian_English#Spelling) American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with Its location is based on the spot where the ball is placed after the end of the most recent play and following the assessment of any penalty yards. Parts of this article need to be merged into American Football, and parts of that article need to be merged here A line of scrimmage is parallel to the goal lines and touches one edge of the ball where it sits on the ground prior to the snap. A snap (colloquially called a "hike" "snapback" or "pass from center" starts each American football and Canadian football Under NFL and NCAA rules, there are actually two lines of scrimmage at the outset of each play: one that restricts the offense and one that restricts the defense. The National Football League ( NFL) is the largest professional American football league. The National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA, often pronounced "N-C-Double-A" is a voluntary association of about 1200 institutions conferences organizations The area between the two lines (representing the length of the ball as extended to both sidelines) is called the neutral zone. In American football the neutral zone can be described as the length of the football from one tip to the other when it is spotted (i Only the center, the offensive player who snaps the ball, is allowed to have any part of his body in the neutral zone. In order for there to be a legal beginning of a play, a certain number of the players on the offensive team, including certain eligible receivers, must be at, on or within a few inches of their line of scrimmage. In American football, each team has 11 players on the field at one time In American football and Canadian football, not all players on offense are entitled to receive a forward pass

In Canadian football the team on defense must line up no nearer than a yard to the line of scrimmage. In accordance with the Manual of Style (see) Canadian English is used throughout this article (see Canadian_English#Spelling) In American football they must only be beyond the line.

Many fans and commentators refer colloquially to the entire neutral zone as the "line of scrimmage," although this is technically not correct. A colloquialism is an expression not used in formal speech, writing or Paralinguistics. Others use the general term to refer specifically to the defensive line of scrimmage, since it is the line relevant to the measurement of progress toward the goal. Referees, when explaining a penalty, will refer to "the previous spot" instead of the "line of scrimmage" in order to avoid confusion. In American football, an official is a person who has responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game

Sportvision provides a product called 1st & Ten which allows broadcasts of American football to include a visible line which may represent the line of scrimmage or the minimum distance that the ball must be moved for the offensive team to achieve a first down. Sportvision is a private company that provides various Television viewing enhancements to a number of different professional sporting events 1st & Ten is the name for a computer system that generates and displays the yellow first down line that a TV viewer sees during a live broadcast of a college American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with First Down redirects here For the Prison Break episode see First Down (Prison Break episode.

See also

• Glossary of American football
• Comparison of Canadian and American football