The offensive backfield is the area of an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

field behind the

line of scrimmage In gridiron football, a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line (across the width of the field) beyond which a team cannot cross until the next play has begun. Its location is based on the spot where the ball is placed after the end o ...

. The offensive backfield can also refer to members of offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including any backs on the field, such as the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ameri ...

, halfbacks and fullback.

History

The modernization of the roles of lineman and backs is often traced to

Amos Alonzo Stagg Amos Alonzo Stagg (August 16, 1862 – March 17, 1965) was an American athlete and college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfiel ...

. Some of the greatest backfields in the history of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most o ...

include those of the 1912 Carlisle Indians, 1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado, 1924 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and 1945 Army Cadets. Joe Guyon was a member of both the aforementioned Carlisle and Georgia Tech teams. Typically, quarterbacks or halfbacks passed the ball, and fullbacks handled kicking duties.

Play in the backfield

Most running plays begin with a hand-off in the offensive backfield. All

kicks A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of ...

and punts must take place in the offensive backfield. If the offensive ball-carrier is tackled in the backfield, the team will lose yards, in that the distance they need to attain for a

first down A down is a period in which a play transpires in gridiron football. The down is a distinguishing characteristic of the game compared to other codes of football, but is synonymous with a "tackle" in rugby league. The team in possession of the ...

is more than at the beginning of the play. Each play, the quarterback will start in the offensive backfield, being snapped the ball from the center, and moving the ball up field.

Rules

There are many rules which differ for play in the offensive backfield as opposed to play in front of the line of scrimmage. The 1906 football rule reforms mandated that the offensive team line up with at least seven players on the line of scrimmage, which are now commonly called "linemen". Therefore, a maximum of four players are allowed in the offensive backfield. The other players not on the line of scrimmage may be positioned anywhere, but all must be at least 1 yard behind the seven or more players on the line of scrimmage. A

forward pass In several forms of football, a forward pass is the throwing of the ball in the direction in which the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of the main distinguishers between gridiron ...

can only be legally made from the offensive backfield. There are also rules If the pass is not deemed a forward pass, and is not caught the ball is still considered live and can be picked up by either team. Over time, these rules have been changed to account for the evolving nature of the game. The tuck rule was an especially controversial rule that stated any forward motion of the quarterback's arm results in an attempted forward pass. thus, if the ball were to drop to the ground, it would be ruled an incompletion instead of fumble. The quarterback can run as far back as he wants with the ball, but if he is still inside the "tackle box" (the area between where the tackles line up) and does not throw the ball past the line of scrimmage, he will be called with intentional grounding and results in a 10-yard penalty and a loss of the down. There is no intentional grounding for the ball not crossing the line of scrimmage if the quarterback was outside of the tackle box when the ball was thrown.

References

{{Authority control American football terminology