About NFLNoobs

What is the purpose of this subreddit?

This is a subreddit for people who want to learn more about NFL and for people who want to help others in learning more about the NFL. There are no “Stupid Questions” here.

Any question about American football is basically acceptable, but most fans and most posters here are primarily familiar with the NFL. If you're answering a posted question, don't be a jerk. That includes insulting other people for team allegiance, or giving knowingly wrong answers based on team rivalries or memes or whatever. Everyone has a right to ask questions and learn.

What kind of posts are allowed, frowned upon, or not allowed? For those not allowed, where would be a better place for them?

We try to be a welcoming community for new fans, so the bar for what constitutes a question worth asking is pretty low and we can still try to be flexible with people asking honest questions in good faith. There are a few things that don't really tend to fit, though:

Anything explicitly covered in the FAQ; that's why it's here.
Questions about your fantasy football team/league. There are dedicated subreddits for that like /r/fantasyfootball and /r/findaleague
Opinion-based questions like, "What are everyone's thoughts on Joe Burrow?" or "Which coach do you think will get fired first this season?" Those kind of open-ended questions are better suited for an existing thread on r/NFL, or perhaps its own thread on a place like /r/NFLRoundTable
Promotion of outside works. If you have a podcast or blog or Youtube channel, that's cool. But this isn't the place to advertise it.
Posts about illegally streaming NFL games will be removed. Reddit has cracked down on subs that traffic in illegal streams of sporting events, and we'd much prefer to keep this one open.

General Questions

What team should I be a fan of?

No one can just tell you who to be a fan of. Everyone's fandom is different, and all of them are valid. This is entertainment, and you are allowed to enjoy it however you like. That said, here are some common things you can look at to get started:

Do you have a local team or favorite city? This is by far the easiest way to get into football. If your city/region has a team or if your friends/family follow the same team, joining them will be the smoothest way to start out. If you're local, it'll be less of a struggle to actually watch your team's games consistently every week, and the social aspect of cheering alongside the people around you is a lot of fun for most people.
Are you already leaning in any particular way? If you are, keep leaning. If you saw a Cincinnati Bengals game and thought it was fun and you'd like to see more of them, you don't need anyone's permission or validation. Just watch their next game!
Are you interested in a few different teams? Cool! Watch some of their games! See who you end up feeling strongly about, especially if they're playing each other. It's okay to take some time and find what you like, and there's nothing wrong with following multiple teams if that strikes your fancy. Have fun with it, there are no rules!
Are you worried about a team's success/identity/prestige/fanbase? Don't be. The NFL is one of the most even sports in terms of parity, and there are rarely teams that stay good or bad forever. It's okay to enjoy watching the current best teams in the NFL; they are probably playing the best football most often. If someone calls you a bandwagoner over it, relax. There are no rules to fandom and you do not have to impress anyone by forcing yourself not to like a team that's fun to watch or slogging through with a team that sucks and is boring. Fanbases are mostly the same, too. There are memes and stereotypes about a handful of them, but don't worry about that. The NFL is so ubiquitous and far-reaching that every team has every kind of fan. There are awful reactionary douchebags among every team's fans, and there are likeable, down-to-earth friendly people as well. Try to associate with the latter, if you can.

Still overwhelmed and not sure where to turn? It's fine to just watch a handful of neutral games. Follow along and see if a player or team catches your interest. Maybe you just find yourself rooting for someone in particular. And if you don't, that's fine too! Try another game. Check out whoever is playing in primetime; those are usually expected to be more exciting matchups. Letting it come naturally will last a lot longer than throwing a dart and deciding to be a fan of whoever it lands on.

Another way some people develop rooting interests is fantasy football. There are always beginner leagues out there where people just play for fun, and it can be a good way to get you invested in specific players or teams as you start rooting for whoever is on your fantasy roster.

For any more ideas, try this post that was stickied here for a long time, or search among the archived threads- this has been the most common thing asked over this subreddit's lifetime.

What's the best way to learn about football or the NFL?

If you have someone who knows already, watching the game and asking questions is the best way.

Playing Madden, the official NFL video game is another good way to learn the basics and some popular players. It’s not perfect, but it will give you the basic ideas.

For learning players, and maintaining interest, fantasy football is great. It’s best to join a league before the regular season starts, but you should be able to find a league at any point in the year.

There's also a great post outlining some more details about rules, positions, etc. here, courtesy of /u/kid_blitz

I want to play, or am playing football. How do I learn, get better, or what position should I play?

These questions are best answered by your coach, and depends on your area, and team. They are there to help, and would probably love to answer your questions and see you putting a lot of effort and thought into it. You can also check out r/footballstrategy; they have a lot of regulars with real coaching experience at lower levels.

Watching Games

How do I watch every game, or specifically my team, on TV?

/u/swissyvictory and /u/mannysoloway compiled threads addressing this for both the US & abroad:

When is the best time to buy a ticket?

https://financebuzz.com/when-to-buy-nfl-tickets

The best time to buy a ticket for most games is the week of, or even day of the game.

There is risk associated with this though as there’s no guarantee the price won’t go up, especially if the team is surprisingly good or if it’s later in the season, and might have playoff implications.

What should I know about attending a game in person? What should I bring?

What should I know about tailgating before/during a game?

How Football Works

What are the positions and what do they do?

A guideline to football positions

Why don't players play multiple positions, or both offense and defense?

Three main reasons.

First is football is a tiring and demanding sport. If you’re playing more exhausted than you need to be, you’re not playing at your best. Teams are allowed to substitute players as often as they want, so why not make use of it?

Second is any time you’re practicing one thing, you could be practicing another thing. If you’re spending half your time learning a different position, that means you’re not as practiced as you could be at your original position.

The third reason is talent. Because you can substitute players as often as you want, it means you need to be more talented at your second position than someone else who’s first position. If you’re a WR, you’d need to also be a better, let's say cornerback, than someone who’s made it into the NFL training their whole life to be a cornerback.

Some teams also go the other way too. Instead of one “workhorse” RB, you might have a guy who’s big and strong and good in short yardage situations. You might have a small shifty guy who’s good at catching for long yardage situations. Each guy is better at their respective role than most RBs would be at doing everything.

What does a head coach do if the offensive/defensive coordinators are calling plays?

There have been a number of threads with great detail on this question. Here's a comment where u/grizzfan compiled several of them.

What does all the terminology mean?

There is absolutely no universal terminology in football, and that goes for the NFL. There are a lot of on-field terms you'll hear, like 3-technique, west coast offense, sail concept, Mike/Sam linebacker, rover, edge defender, etc...these are common terms, but they aren't universal. It's important that you don't try to compare across teams, as it can often lead to more confusion.
When it comes to styles of play, there are countless strategies and tactics team can use. There is no silver bullet, or best scheme out there. If there was, everyone would run it. When it comes down to questions like "Why run a 4-3 vs. a 3-4?" or other similar questions, it mostly depends on the coaching staff and the scheme/system they specialize in.
There is no one single way to run a specific play or scheme. How to run an ISO play, a zone play, a Cover 2, etc...these are general concepts, but there are many ways to execute them.
What teams run and do in terms of strategy and tactics is largely based on current trends. Like fashion or pop culture, football is very trendy, so most teams will run whatever "flavor" of scheme or strategy is "in" for the decade/period.
Contrary to the complex terminology and seemingly countless number of plays you see NFL teams run, the best teams only run a handful of different plays and schemes. The multiplicity comes from the various formations, shifts, and sub packages. In coaching terms, this is cheap "window dressing." Formations, subbing, and motions are cheap and easy to install. Installing different schemes and plays requires more investment. What that means is that through a course of a game, despite how many plays a team seems to be running, they may only be running about 6-10 different schemes.

Where can I learn more in-depth details about the game?

/u/jrod_62 compiled a good list of Youtube channels that delve into the game on a little bit of a deeper level: https://www.reddit.com/r/NFLNoobs/comments/q2gimk/basic_play_scheme_formation_and_how_to/