American Football Trivia

Within the past three decades, football has taken over the title of “America’s Pastime” from baseball. Ask any red- blooded male from California to New York what he is planning on doing any given Sunday in the fall; the odds are he’ll answer “watching football”.

With so many people watching the new pastime, there are countless numbers of people who claim to be American football trivia buffs. For those of you who feel that they are “in the know” regarding football trivia here are some interesting and obscure facts that you may not know.

• It is legal for a quarterback to drop the football on the ground and kick it on the bounce through the
uprights for either a field goal or an extra point. This is called a drop kick.

• The last drop kick made was done by Doug Flutie in 2006. This was the first successful attempt in six decades.

• American sprinter Carl Lewis was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1984 draft (he was also drafted by the Chicago Bulls the same year). He never played for either team.

• The coldest NFL game ever played was the 1967 Ice Bowl between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys where the temperature dropped to 13° F below zero. The Packers, a cold weather team, won 21 to 17.

• If a team fair catches the ball on a punt, they can choose to have on their next play a free uncontested field goal try with the defensive players staying a minimum ten yards away from the kicker.

• The NFL running back Priest Holmes was not drafted by a single team coming out of college. He later went on to break the NFL record for most rushing touchdowns in a single season (which was later broken by LaDainian Tomlinson).

• Former San Francisco 49er quarterback Steve Young has a law degree from Brigham Young University.

• In 2002 Pat Tillman declined a contract extension of over a million dollars a year for three years to serve in the Army. He was later killed in action in Afghanistan.

• Former quarterback Len Dawson holds the NFL record for most fumbles in one game with seven. Len Dawson is also in the NFL Hall of Fame.