My friend Lisa watches one football game each year-The Super Bowl. She is interested in everything but the game itself, from the commercials to the gaudy half time shows. I try to stay as far away from Lisa as possible to avert her incessant football related questions during the game.

I drew the short straw this year.

Right from the opening kickoff, the questions came in rapid fire form. Most of the questions were mundane until she asked me about why the players lined up and stood still before the snap of the ball.

"What exactly are they doing?" she queried.

"The offense and defense prepare to run a play before every snap of the ball. Each player is aligned in a position that is determined by a coach's play call. The collective alignment of the eleven players on offense and defense is called a formation. The purpose of a specific formation is to anticipate the play to be called by the opposing team."

Before Lisa could follow up with more questions, I high-tailed it to another room as her attention was riveted on the first commercial to come on after kickoff.

The Giants took an incredible amount of time off the clock on their opening drive. Ten game minutes elapsed before Fox could start earning its advertising revenue. I reflected on Lisa's question while I waited for the game to resume. The ten minute opening drive provided both teams with the opportunity to run a number of varied football formations.

The Giants began their drive working out of the Split formation. Two running backs were aligned parallel to each other about seven yards behind the line of scrimmage. It was apparent after three plays that New York planned to run the ball, which is the Split formation's strength. One of the running backs in the Split formation is a fullback, whose main reasonability is to block for the halfback, in this case Brandon Jacobs.

But the Giants also ran out of the I formation on short yardage plays. In the I formation, the fullback lines up directly in front of the halfback, giving him a direct line to the first defender to block. The halfback runs behind the fullback trying to pick up a short yardage first down.

As the Giant's drive crossed midfield, coach Tom Coughlin mixed up the play calling out of the Split formation. The Split formation is a difficult formation to defend because the defense isn't sure if it's designed for a pass or a running play. Coughlin started calling pass plays out of the Split to confuse the New England Patriot

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