Is American Football the single most skill-less "sport" in the world?

Question

Aside from the quarter back there is absolutely no skill involved in NFL. All they have to be is fat or a sprinter.

Linesmen cannot be considered athlethes since most of them cant even run the length of the pitch and are grossly overweight.

The "tackle" they use isnt a real tackle since all they do is lunge at the player and hope their momentum is enough to stop him with no attempt to wrap the player and bring him down.

Running backs just sprint as fast as they can and hope the quarter back throws a good pass.

And they get a break every 30 seconds...wtf? How can anyone consider themselves an athlethe if they need a break every few seconds of play.

Rugby players have to know how to tackle, attack, pass and kick. NFL players at max have one of these skills. You cant consider yourself an athlete if you arent at least a little competent at all aspects of your sport.

How can you like a sport that has so little skill involved?

Rugby players play for 80mins continuously with only one 10 min break. The forwards are almost as big as linesmen but have the fitness of running backs and they arent just immovable blobs. And the ones that are smaller have far more stamina.

The forwards have to attack as well as defend and there is actually a skill involved in the rugby tackle not just a wild lunge at a player hoping for the best.

The backs also have to tackle, make line breaks, pass, execute dummy runs.

ALL the players have to be able to do this and they dont get a break after they make ONE tackle and slap each others asses to celebrate it. If one tackle is the biggest thing to get excited about then it says it all about the amount of action that happens in a game.

And running backs arent even particularly fit. They are just very fast over short distances. Backs in rugby arent quite as fast, actually wait they are Lomu, Rocokoko, Lewsey, Hickey, O'Driscoll all run 100m in under 11 seconds and can actually tackle and beat players(more than 1) in front of them.

By the way im not British but ill give it to them they did have an empire encompassing most of the world at one stage.

Show a picture of Payton Manning to a person in any country outside of America and they will not have the slightest idea who he is.

Show a picture of Johnny Wilkinson, Jonah Lomu, Brian O'Driscoll and there is a good chance most people will have seen him before.

Your the same type of Moron who thinks NASCAR is more popular than Formula 1 even though around the world no one knows who Dale Jnr is.

the most recognisable player ever to come out of NFL was OJ Simpson. Props on that!!

Everyone watch the Video Jim Baw posted. Its a perfect illustration of how pads and a helmet can be used to tackle with zero skill. Thats a cheap shot, the ball was at the other end of the pitch and he wasnt even looking yet he managed to get up completely unfased by it.

How exactly does that show a rugby player getting ownd? Please explain moron.

That Ted Ginn lad is fast but that TD against Michigan is nothing special, he beats what? one player who is obstructed by another already. And thats a whole 8 seconds of excitement...wow must be worth spending 2 hours in the stadium for that.

Compared to this try that really is nothing. End to end TWICE in 20 seconds with Toulouse attacking first and then Leinster turning over the ball and attacking from within their own 22metre line. And then managing to twist his body to actually touch down the ball without going out of play instead of just running over the line. Thats proper skill and excitement.

If that was football we would have to wait 5minutes after the turnover just so they could bring on their offensive team to play for about 10 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzW5KlXF5d8

Answer 1

Football is sort of like chess, every player has a role to play in order for the grand strategy to work. Linemen are big, but althetic; there job is to block for the backs. The quarterback is in charge of running the plays and at times throws, at times hands off the ball to a running back, fakes a handoff or runs with the ball. Running backs have to block, catch, and ahve great agility and quickness. Wide recievers need to be able to catch a pass, and must be as agile and quick as running backs but are more often more so. Tight ends are a blending of linemen and wide recievers.

Most of the players can also do other things. Many wide recievers and safties were quarterbacks in high school and sometimes college. Many linemen can run 40 yards in under 5 seconds. Many wide recievers and running backs can run 40 yards in under 4.5 seconds.
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Here's film of Brian Urlacher in High School...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s7To4nvnrc

Here is Urlacher again, especially note the tackle at around 18 seconds; definantly not a momentum thing.
At 2:34 we again see Urlacher show just how strong, not fat, he is.
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This is rivals.com, it is dedicated to college football. Checkout the Rivals100 for a list of High School football players, and see how fast some of those "fat guys" actually are. Chances are they could outrun you.
http://rivals100.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?SID=880&Year=2008&ra_key=1803

Try to find the players who have body weight, bench, squat and 40-yard dash times listed.
As an example here is Mark Barron; 6'2 200 lbs. Benches 335max, squats 455max and runs 40yards in 4.5 seconds.

Another Example...
Barrett Jones
6'5 271
Benches 335 max, squats 490 max and runs 40yards in 4.9 seconds.

Answer 2

I think that you are mis-understanding the whole system behind football. If you have ever watched a team practice, everyone on the team has to do sprints and run, etc. All of the players practice catching the ball and blocking. The reason why they do not use these skills at all times is because of the way the game is played.

If everyone was just running around trying to catch the ball, then all the defense would do is go after the quarterback, but then everyone would be open so the scores would be through the roof. Players are skilled in many areas, but they are only needed to play certain positions. Sometimes running backs step up to make blocks and some RB's/WR's were also quarterbacks in high school or college. That is why there are trick plays that use skills that players have.

Please, don't go ripping on football, these guys work continuously to stay in shape and get better. Try playing football, you couldn't handle it.

Answer 3

This is what happens when rugby meets football....



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6U6bMPpIIc


In case you didn't know that was one of your beloved rugby players getting leveled. He's trying to make it in American football.

You're obviously uneducated about American Football, and you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. There are many players who have the potential to play multiple positions (Randall Cunningham comes to mind first). Even at the pro level, there are a few players who will play multiple positions. It just is not beneficial for coaches to play people both ways because of the pounding american football players take, and the fact that they will be going up against well-rested players.

some of these linemen that "can't run the length of the field" run a 40 yard dash in under 4.4, and even the slowest run it around 5. They're so fat and slow tho...

"running backs just sprint as fast as they can and hope the 'quarter back' (its one word there, boss) throws a good pass"..... what does that even mean? You don't even know the positions, and yet you judge the sport. Saying football players have little skill is equivalent to saying the same about surgeons. It's simply an outrageous statement.

haha and by the way, under an 11 second 100 meter is not considered that fast in the NFL. Many players in the NFL could be olympic sprinters if they chose to. Micheal Bennett for instance ran a 10.18 100 meter. He is not even the fastest player in the league. Oh yeah, and in the past, the NFL had "the fastest man on Earth" playing in their league (Bob Hayes). Clearly, he just could sprint short distances tho.


You're obviously a 12 year old with too much time on your hands. I hope you and your pals had a good laugh about it.

Answer 4

I seen many stupid things in here but this has to take the cake. Why don't you try playing the game first. Just to show how little you know - Running backs get the ball handed to them!!!! Receivers catch forward passes, which again you would know nothing about because rugby does not have them, they have to run many patterns, post,corner, hook, out, flare,slant, wheel and out and up, just to name a few. The definition you gave for Running backs fits rugby players much, much more " just sprint as fast as they can and hope the (whatever you call your players) throws a good pass. Considering you don't have the forward pass in rugby and the fact that your backwards pass are a whole 10 feet(sorry 304.8 centimeter) why don't you , first of see if you can even manage to throw the ball 60 yards( sorry again 54.864 meter) and catch it. If you can do this tell your friend to put on a motorcycle helmet and hit you in the ribs as you try to catch and tell us how that feels OK? Actually why don't you both put on helmets and run into each other head to head and when you stop seeing stars tell us how that feels. Why do all those players stand around? I mean when the ball goes to the left I see many players with their hands on their hips walking, but hey as long as the clock keeps moving right? The time between plays adds to tension and excitement of the game.

Answer 5

Yep you are an idiot. Football is a complex game. On any given play you can watch 11 different matchups. You can watch the lineman struggle for position. You can watch the receiver try and fake out the saftey. Or you can watch the running back try and fake out or run over an entire defense. Or maybe you can watch the quarterback try and read the defense prefectly and make the prefect throw or hand the ball off at the exact last moment before the lineman hits him for a sack. There is a lot going on if you take the time to look.

Answer 6

To answer your question, no, that honor goes to rugby. While rugby isn't really a sport in the purest sense, it is a nice activity for children and the unathletic types that couldn't make the football team. But there's no skill involved at all; it's just a bunch of fat unathletic unpopular guys pushing around.

You're yet another one of those idiots, spouting off about what he knows nothing about from afar.

Answer 7

I played both sports growing up in Canada. I have nothing against rugby, but American football is a much more difficult and demanding sport.

You sound like someone who has never played the game, because you don't seem to understand that every player - especially the linemen of whom you speak - has a role in each play. It's not just a bunch of fat guys lunging at each other. If that was the case, then every team would just get the heaviest guys possible.

It's too bad that you have to make all rugby fans sound so stupid.

Answer 8

It's apparent that you have never played football.

Joe Thomas, offensive tackle, ran a 4.92 40 yd. dash, not bad for a 300 lb 'fat guy'.

30 second breaks, they're called intervals, it's a type of athletic training. Football players aren't trying to distance run, but they are sprinting repeatly for an hour (in heavy, hot gear, because we hit a helluva lot harder than ruggers).

Those running backs, are handed a ball and expected to run through, around, etc. all those 'fat guys'. That requires more that 'sprinting', it's agility, quick thinking, and most of all guts.

So maybe you should study a bit before you hit that submit button. and stick to rugby, you can't handle football.

Answer 9

This coming from someone that has obviously never played the sport.

"At max have only one of these skills"--have you actually SEEN what a running back does. First of all, you're describing a wide receiver. Secondly, a running back has to know how to run, catch, block, and in some cases, pass. He has to have enough power to run up the middle, agility to miss tacklers, and quickness to burst through the hole.

Linemen may be overweight, but its takes a lot of mobility to pull, trap, and block DTs & LBs running at you head-on while your backing up.

Keep your arrogant and ignorant English *** on the other side of the pond.

LSUBalls, you really need to stop with all the gay jokes. Its making you seem so homophobic to the point that I think that you're actually trying to cover up your own gayness.

Answer 10

That would be soccer, or nascar if you call either a sport. Soccer you stand there for two hours and hope someone can kick the ball straight enough to score a goal. If your team scores one goal in 2 hours you a guaranteed a victory and people watch that stuff. Nascar driving in circles makes me dizzy seriously could they not get the whole race accomplished in like 15 minutes, what a joke.