As the autumn leaves start falling down like pieces into place, the arrival of another season is signaled: football. Now that Taylor Swift’s presence at Kansas City Chiefs games after all these days has exponentially increased NFL viewership, the question still remains… what is football?

The End Game is to score, but mainly to get in the end zone. In order to do that, teams have four tries to get 10 yards, so imagine this is me trying… but four times. Once you get 10 yards or more, the downs reset.

If the team is within range on fourth down, they can elect to kick a field goal for three points. That’s when the kicker comes in wearing a football helmet and tries to send the ball through the uprights behind the end zone. If the team is not in a good field position, it can elect to try for the first down one more time or punt the ball away.

There are a lot of penalties called in football, but the most common ones would be a false start, delay of game and holding. When a penalty is called, it may seem like a team moves all the way Back to December, but in reality, it’s only five to 15 yards.

There are also personal fouls that can get players ejected from the game. No matter how into the game the players are, they need to continue to play Clean. Specifically, there is a lot of Bad Blood between Clemson and the University of South Carolina, but they need to calm down and Stay Stay Stay focused on the game so they do not get disqualified.

In order to call one of these penalties, the refs throw a flag that is golden, like daylight. The coaches can’t challenge the flags, but they can challenge plays. For a coach to challenge a play, they throw a flag that is burning red. The refs will then have to put the play under review and look at a replay.

Often, football is a game of inches that requires the coaches to get smarter and harder in the nick of time. They must be aware of the clock at all times and use their timeouts wisely, as running the clock down may help them win the game.

The offense is who is scoring points, while the defense is trying to stop the other team from scoring. The Masterminds behind the offense are the quarterback and the offensive coordinator. They have to read the defense and decide which plays to run to get downfield. The running back is handed the ball from the quarterback and is usually seen bulldozing through the traffic of men as fans wonder — are we in the clear yet?

A lot of people may wonder why they do that instead of going around, but once they make it through the traffic, they are usually Out Of The Woods and won’t get tackled after that.

The defense tries to stop the other team from scoring. They produce a lot of hard hits, which are often Better Than Revenge. You don’t really hear a lot about specific defensive players, but they are just as important as the offense when it comes to winning. Some of the most crucial plays are made by the defense, and they have the time of their life fighting dragons.

At the end of the day, both teams are just there to play the sport that they love. There are lots of tough losses, but they just have to Shake It Off and prepare for the next week. So now the only question left is… are you Ready For It?