The main goal of an offense as a whole is to get the ball down the field so points can be scored. The individual goals of each player on the offense are different. It's mainly to protect the quarterback. Offense revolves around the quarterback, if the defense gets to him, it all over, well, at least for the moment.

There are four kinds of offensive players: Quarterback, Running-back, Linemen and Wide Receivers. Running-back also includes the Halfback, whose jobs are the same. Linemen also include the Tight-end, who are eligible to receive a pass from the quarterback while Linemen typically are not.

-Players Defined-

-Quarterback is the most easily recognizable player on the football field. Most people already know his role on the team so I won't explain it.

-Linemen are the four or five big guys on the line of scrimmage in front of the ball. Their job is to protect the quarterback. If their is a fifth guy on the line then he is a Tight-end, who can either help protect the quarterback or run through the line to become a receiver. Another job of the offense is to open holes in the line so the quarterback or a running-back can run through or around the line.

-Running-backs are the two guys standing with the quarterback. Their main purpose is to run the ball but are sometimes used as a receiver in screen passes (pass in which the running-back moves to the side of the field behind two or more wide receivers who act as blockers while the quarterback throws him the ball).

-Wide Receiver is pretty simple to explain. They are the guys on the outside that catch passes from the quarterback.

Here are some of your more basic play formations that you will see from an offense. This is the simplest way to explain it without going into too much detail and getting people confused.

-I-Formation: usually a run play where the quarterback gives a running-back the ball.

-Option: play in which the quarterback can either run the ball himself, give the ball to a running-back or pass the ball to a receiver.

-Shotgun: mainly used in a passing situation.

There are many variations of each of these play formations. Just because a team is lined up in an I-formation doesn't mean they have to run the ball, they could pass it. The same goes for the Shotgun.

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