r/NFLNoobs • u/TyreseCOYS • 3d ago
New
Hey everyone!
I recently started working as a truck driver, driving across Canada and the United States. Since I spend most of my time in the US, I’ve naturally become more curious about American culture and sports.
Recently, I had a conversation with another truck driver about American football, and it really got me interested in the sport. I’d love to learn more about it, but as someone who is completely new to football, I’m not really sure where to start.
How would you recommend getting into the sport from scratch? What would you focus on first to understand the rules, teams, and overall culture surrounding football?
I’m also curious about something else: If you were a complete newcomer to American football, which team would you choose to support, and why?
One thing worth mentioning is that I might be moving to Missouri within the next few years, so I’m also wondering whether that should influence my choice of team.
I’d really appreciate any advice, recommendations, or personal experiences. Thanks in advance!
3
u/Far-Celebration-3337 3d ago
The team of choice will come to you, for a variety of reasons. Wanna follow a certain player? Do you like a certain team’s vibe or persona? Do you like their colors? It can be anything. If you want to learn about the league, YouTubers like Football Analysis and Brandon Perna are good to keep up with what’s going on. Bootleg is more mixed with news and strategy. If you wanna learn strategy, watch Thinking Football (it’ll be daunting at first). You’ll understand the rules and game flow as you watch. It’s easy to pick tendencies up. NFL films can be fun to learn about the league’s legends. Overall just have fun with it.
3
u/trphilli 3d ago
Missouri football these days mostly follow Kansas City Chiefs (also one of the higher performing teams). 2nd is hate watching / boycotting LA Rams whi left Missouri. Much smaller pockets follow Bears / Colts.
In terms of game, basically just start watching / listening for the athleticism. Most of the blanks fill in overtime listening to broadcasts.
Basic rules. 100 yards endzone to end zone. Get your ball in the end zone 6 points with chance for bonus 1 or 2. Kick it through the big yellow uprights 3 points. But you don't get unlimited attempts. You start with 4 plays (called 1st Down, 2nd, 3rd, 4th). If you advance ten yards (yellow line) you reset to 1st down. You'll hear this summarized as 1st & 10 (1st down and ten yards needed). 2nd & 7 (2nd down and 7 yards needed).
4th down plays are rare because if you fail to get the yards, it is 1st down for other team. So teams can punt so other team gets first down farther back. Or if close enough they can kick for 3 points.
2
u/IconicHunter713 3d ago
Watch a YouTube video to understand the basic rules etc. Put on NFL Redzone on Sunday, its NFL’s tv program that shows the team or teams that are about to score, great way to get into the sport. But in general, just watch the game, you’ll like a certain team’s playstyle or a specific player, and that’s probably your team to support.
Just don’t pick the Dolphins, Jets, Browns, Cardinals, or Falcons to support, only pain awaits you there
2
u/BehindTheLions 3d ago
Reddit is not a bad place to learn but X (Twitter) is the place to go. So much scheme on there: Dan Casey, Jake Franklin, Pace N Space, Last of the Fullbacks, Run The Damn Ball. YouTube has good channels too (Brett Knollman and Alex Rollins).
And if you can, watch the games. I know that might be hard if you’re on the road. Even though the commentators are annoying, some them do teach the game (Olsen, Aikman, Brady). Good luck!
2
u/WalkerTDX 3d ago
Man I wish Madden wasn't impossible now. I learned more playing that in a few months than I would've ever learned just watching games.
1
u/TyreseCOYS 3d ago
Is it worth to play with not knowing the rules?
1
u/WalkerTDX 3d ago
If you can somehow get your hands on a disk from before 2013 it would help. Everything after that got progressively harder and took the fun out of it. I can't believe I started with '97.
2
u/Person51389 3d ago
For culture stuff there are a number of movies about football, such as Silver Linings Playbook, which is about a guy from South Philly, whose dad has been banned from the linc for fighting, so he has to watch the games like a block away at home every week. It shows some of the craziness of the fans, with the Eagles being one the craziest fan bases. Another one is Invincible, where a guy was a walk-on and made the team. As well I would say The Little Giants...as its like kids being taught to play football. And it's just great 90s nostalgia imo. (Kinda wanna watch it again.) But theres a lot of decent football movies, prob like 10 more from the last 20ish years.
So you can learn the culture stuff from movies + documentaries. And the game itself, a little from movies, but more so just from watching games mostly. Playing Madden can be useful too a few times.
As far as teams id say that's about personality + geography. I think Missouri would then prob be near Kansas City (although KC is on edge of Missouri, its possible to be closer to another states City/team even if you are in the same state.). But youd prob be close-ish to KC so it's a good time to a KC fan as they have Mahomes still in his prime + TE Kelce in possibly his last year. They have won a lot of super bowls and are one of the best teams.
2
u/CowboysPleaseWin 3d ago
The easiest option for picking a team is just proximity. That way you’d almost always have access to their games depending on what you use to watch them, and going to a game in person is much more convenient. If it’s Missouri then the Chiefs are the closest.
2
u/glogshark 3d ago
grew up not watching an ounce of football (single immigrant mom), only started enjoying it in college bc i went to a big football school, and the way i learned was to just watch games with my friends who grew up watching it! a lot of the base rules are easy to pick up just by watching and if i was ever confused i just asked the people around me to explain and they were happy to. i enjoy it a lot now!
1
u/South_Captain_2630 3d ago
Do you know Canadian football or rugby already?
1
u/TyreseCOYS 3d ago
No sir.
For me as European football been always soccer here.
2
u/South_Captain_2630 3d ago
Then I would suggest starting with the rules. A basic 30-60 minute YouTube video is sufficient.
There is quite a bit of flexibility after that, but I would learn the basics (all 32 teams, top 25 players, zone vs. man coverage, etc.) before getting into too many details
1
1
u/civichoo 2d ago
Most important thing as a newcomer to football is to learn how the down system works and how it affects the pace of the game. All the rules of football (there are a ton) essentially revolve around it imho… understanding it makes the rest of the game much easier to follow
3
u/this_curain_buzzez 3d ago
I’d just start watching games honestly. Maybe watch a YouTube video for the basic rules, but you’ll pick up a lot of it by osmosis. After a while there will be teams/players you like and you can go from there.