American football explained: downs, scoring and overtime
American football is a game of territory. Two teams of 11 players try to carry or pass the ball into the opponent's end zone, and the team with the ball gets four attempts, called downs, to move it at least 10 yards. Succeed and you get four fresh downs; fail and the ball goes to the other team. A touchdown is worth 6 points, a field goal 3, and a game lasts four 15-minute quarters. Everything else on a scoreboard, from "3rd & 4" to "Final/OT", follows from those few ideas.
The field and the aim
The field of play is 100 yards long between the two goal lines, with a 10-yard end zone at each end, so the whole rectangle measures 360 feet by 160 feet. Yard lines are numbered from each goal line up to the 50 in the middle, which is why a position is always given as "the 30-yard line" of one team or the other.
Each team has separate units for offense, defense and kicking plays, but only 11 players are on the field at a time. The offense is led by the quarterback, who either hands the ball to a runner or throws it forward to a receiver.
Downs: four attempts for 10 yards
A series starts with 1st & 10: first down, 10 yards to go. The target is called the line to gain. If the first play gains six yards, the next situation is 2nd & 4. Reach the line to gain at any point and the count resets to 1st & 10. When the goal line is closer than 10 yards, the scoreboard shows "1st & Goal" instead.
Fourth down is the decision point:
- Punt – kick the ball far downfield so the opponent starts from a worse position.
- Field goal attempt – if close enough, kick for 3 points.
- Go for it – run a normal play. If it falls short of the line to gain, the opponent takes over at that spot. This is a turnover on downs.
Scoring values
| Score | Points | How it happens |
|---|---|---|
| Touchdown | 6 | The ball is carried into, or caught in, the opponent's end zone |
| Extra point | 1 | A kick through the uprights after a touchdown (snapped from the 15-yard line in the NFL) |
| Two-point conversion | 2 | Instead of kicking, one play from the 2-yard line that must reach the end zone |
| Field goal | 3 | A kick through the uprights on a normal down |
| Safety | 2 | The offense is stopped with the ball in its own end zone; the points go to the defense |
One rare footnote: if the defense takes the ball away during an extra-point or two-point attempt and returns it all the way to the other end zone, the defense scores 2 points.
That arithmetic explains typical scores. A touchdown with the kick is 7, which is why 7, 14, 21 and 3, 10, 17 turn up so often.
Quarters, half-time and the clock
A game is 60 minutes of playing time: four quarters of 15 minutes. NFL half-time lasts 13 minutes. Yet a broadcast usually runs around three hours, because the clock stops often: after an incomplete pass, when the ball carrier goes out of bounds, after a score, for a penalty, for a change of possession and for timeouts. Each team has three timeouts per half, and there is an automatic stop, the two-minute warning, near the end of the second and fourth quarters.
Turnovers, sacks and flags
A turnover hands the ball to the defense. An interception is a forward pass caught by a defender; a fumble is when the player holding the ball loses it and anyone may recover it. A sack is the quarterback being tackled behind the line where the play started, before he can throw, which costs yards and a down.
When officials see a foul they throw a yellow flag. Play usually runs to its end, then the penalty is applied as yards moved forward or back, sometimes with an automatic first down.
NFL overtime in the 2026 season
The 2026 NFL rulebook made no change to overtime; the format introduced for 2025 stays.
Regular season. One extra period of 10 minutes. Both teams must get the chance to possess the ball once. The only exception is a safety scored by the team that kicked off on the opponent's first possession, which ends the game. After each team has had the ball, whoever leads wins; if it is still level, the next score of any kind wins. If the 10 minutes run out with the score tied, the game ends as a tie. Each team has two timeouts.
Postseason. Periods are 15 minutes, both teams again get a possession, and if the score is level after a period another one begins. Play continues for as many periods as it takes, because a play-off game must have a winner. That includes the Super Bowl.
How college football differs
College games under NCAA rules look similar but differ in places you will notice:
- Overtime. No kickoff. Each team gets a possession starting at the opponent's 25-yard line. From the second overtime, a team that scores a touchdown must try a two-point play. From the third overtime, each possession is a single two-point play from the 3-yard line, alternating until one team is ahead. There are no ties.
- Catches. A college receiver needs one foot (or another body part) in bounds; in the NFL it must be both feet.
- Being down. In college the play is over when any part of the ball carrier's body other than a hand or foot touches the ground. In the NFL a runner who falls untouched may get up and keep going; he is down only once an opponent has contacted him.
- Clock. In college the clock briefly stops when the offense earns a first down, but only after the two-minute timeout of the second and fourth quarters. The NFL does not stop it for first downs. College half-time is 20 minutes.
Reading a live score
On the American football live scores page each game shows the running total, and the match page splits it by quarter. A finished game might look like this (an invented example):
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 7 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 23 |
| Away | 3 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 20 |
It was 20–20 after four quarters, and the home side won with a field goal in overtime, so the status reads Final/OT rather than plain "Final". Where a broadcast or data feed also shows possession and the situation, "3rd & 4 at the 35" means third down, four yards to go, ball on the 35-yard line.
The meaning of labels such as postponed or interrupted is covered in match statuses explained, and how live scores work describes why a score can appear a moment before or after your TV picture. To follow a team, star it and switch on notifications as shown in favourites and alerts. All games in progress across sports are on the live matches page, and last night's finals are under yesterday's results. If you know basketball's quarters and overtime, basketball rules basics makes a useful comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Can an NFL game end in a tie?
Yes, in the regular season. If the score is level when the single 10-minute overtime period ends, the game is recorded as a tie. In the postseason, 15-minute periods continue until there is a winner.
What does "1st & 10" mean?
It is the down and the distance: first of four attempts, with 10 yards needed for a new set of downs. "3rd & 4" is the third attempt with four yards still to gain.
Where has the NFL played outside the United States?
According to the league, regular-season games have been hosted in London, Mexico City, Toronto, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Madrid, Dublin and São Paulo, and the 2026 schedule added Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and Paris.