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American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and 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 with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or passing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.

American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football match was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on the rules of soccer at the time. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone and specified the size and shape of the football. The sport is closely related to Canadian football, which evolved in parallel with and at the same time as the American game (although their rules were developed independently from those of Camp). Most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are also present in Canadian football. The two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football.

American football is the most popular sport in the United States. The most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. , nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually. The National Football League, the most popular American football league, has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, ranks among the most-watched club sporting events in the world. The league has an annual revenue of around US$15 billion, making it the most valuable sports league in the world. Other professional leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball. (Full article...)

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Apogee Stadium is a college football stadium located at the junction of Interstate 35 East and West in Denton, Texas. Opened in 2011, it is home to the University of North Texas (UNT) Mean Green football team, which competes in Conference USA. The facility replaced Fouts Field, where the school's football program had been based since 1952.

The stadium was proposed by the University of North Texas System Board of Regents after the 2002 New Orleans Bowl. Designed by HKS, Inc., it was constructed at a cost of $78 million after a student body election in 2008. It was originally named "Mean Green Stadium", but was renamed when ResNet provider Apogee purchased the naming rights in 2011. The stadium hosted its first major event on September 10, 2011 when the Mean Green lost 48-23 against the University of Houston Cougars. Official home attendance figures for the team's first six seasons at Apogee Stadium averaged 18,563 per game, which is 60% of its capacity of 30,850. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various American football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Tom Davies of Pittsburgh runs against undefeated and unscored upon Georgia Tech in the 1918 game at Forbes Field
Footballs and a helmet at a Calgary Stampeders (CFL) team practice
The Hall is made up of several sections, with display of inductees at its heart
Sewanee's 1899 "Iron Men"
Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium with the Hall of Fame in lower right
Inside the original structure in 2008
1902 football game between the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan
One of the two Harvard vs. McGill games played in 1874
Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, in 2005. A Canadian Football League venue.
Sign at the old entrance to the PFHF
1897 Latrobe Athletic Association football team: The first entirely professional team to play an entire season.
Morgan Athletic Club (pictured c. 1900), predecessor of the Arizona Cardinals
A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy
An AFL goalpost
Colorado's first football team in 1890
Diagram of a Canadian football field
Don Hutson in 1940.
Jim Thorpe was the first president of the NFL.
Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", pictured here in 1878 as the captain of the Yale University football team
Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 93rd Grey Cup game at BC Place.
A modern down indicator box is mounted on a pole and is used to mark the current line of scrimmage. The number on the marker is changed using a dial.
Old entrance to The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio
The Big Game between Stanford and California was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914
High school football stadium in Manhattan, Kansas
A game between the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Atoms and First Canadian Army Red and Blue Bombers, in Utrecht, Netherlands, October 1945
Colorado Crush (white) at the Kansas City Brigade (light blue).
A Native American college football team
A football signed by the 1974 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement class
1906 St. Louis Post-Dispatch photograph of Brad Robinson, who threw the first legal forward pass and was the sport's first triple threat
Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario
The Calgary Stampeders versus the Montreal Alouettes in 2007, with Calgary in possession of the ball
A game between the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders, 1910
An early American football team, from the turn of the twentieth century

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Quarterback

Credit: Mike Kaplan, USAF

In gridiron football, the quarterback is the leader of the offensive team. At most levels, but especially at the college and professional level, the quarterback is one of the most visible and important roles on the team, being responsible both for calling plays and making decisions during the play. Shown here is Shea Smith of the Air Force Falcons during the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl.

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Manning in 2017

Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and four with the Denver Broncos. Manning is also one of the NFL's most recognizable players, earning the nickname "the Sheriff" due to his tendency to audible prior to the snap. The second son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and older brother of former NFL quarterback Eli Manning, he played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, with whom he won the 1997 SEC Championship Game and earned MVP honors.

Manning was selected first overall in the 1998 NFL Draft by the Colts, where he served as their starting quarterback from 1998 to 2010. He helped transform the struggling Colts franchise into consistent playoff contenders, leading them to 11 playoff runs, eight division titles, three AFC Championship Games, two Super Bowl appearances, and one championship title in Super Bowl XLI, the franchise's first in over three decades and first since relocating to Indianapolis. Manning was also named Super Bowl MVP in the victory. After undergoing neck surgery that sidelined him for the 2011 season, Manning was released by the Colts and signed with the Broncos. Serving as the team's starting quarterback from 2012 to 2015, he helped the Broncos clinch the AFC West each season and play in two Super Bowls. Manning's career ended with a victory in Super Bowl 50, making him the first starting quarterback to win the Super Bowl for more than one franchise. (Full article...)

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Calendar

2020 season: NFL o NCAA FBS (Bowl games)
Jan 2-3	NFL: Week 17
Jan 9-10	NFL: Wild Cards
Jan 11	College Football National Championship: #1 Alabama vs #3 Ohio State
Jan 16-17	NFL: Divisional games
Jan 24	NFL: Conference games
Feb 7	NFL: Super Bowl LV