Wednesday, March 14, 2007

NFL Europa

To quote wikipedia: "With soccer being the traditionally popular sport in Europe and American Football being a relative newcomer, the rules were changed slightly to encourage a greater element of kicking which was intended to make the game more enjoyable for soccer and rugby fans. They did this by awarding 4 points to field goals of more than 50 yards, as opposed to 3 points in the NFL. This has the interesting side-effect that a touchdown lead (6 points) can be overcome by one regular field goal (3 points) as well as a long field goal (4 points).

Also, there is a requirement that at least one player of Non-American extraction, referred to as 'nationa' players, participate in every down for both teams as of the 2006 season (in previous seasons one was required to play only on every down of every other series). In addition to European players a number of Mexican and Japanese players have played as national players. Up until the 2004 season kicked conversion attempts and short field goals were attempted by national players. Since there are few European players who have had the chance to compete at a level comparable to U.S. College Football and the NFL, many of the most useful European players have prior experience in soccer or rugby so become Kickers in NFL Europa. This, in conjunction with the 4-point field goal rule, meant that, while European players were a small minority of players, they still had a significant involvement in scoring points."That's Freaking Brilliant!

1 comment:

Machiavelli said...

Go Sea Devils! Here we come World Bowl XV.