The NFL season has come to an end. Another Super Bowl (53) is in our rearview mirror. With the New England Patriots beating the Los Angeles Rams 13-3. If you just can’t wait for the NFL to return, and you need to watch more football right now well your in luck because the Alliance of American Football (AAF) is here. The AAF isn’t just a carbon copy of the NFL either. Oh no it is much different. Let’s take a further look into the AAF.
One way the AAF differs from the NFL is that it looks to speed up the game. There will be no kickoffs or extra point attempts. This will quicken the game and is also for player safety. The team that wins the coin toss will start at the 25 yard line. When teams score a touchdown they will have to try a 2 point conversion.
The NFL’s play clock is set to 40 seconds. The AAF’s play clock is 35 seconds. This is 5 seconds shorter than the NFL’s. Once again this is an attempt to speed up the game.
When we watch an NFL game the overall game time is 180 minutes. This is due to TV timeouts and commercials. The AAF will not have any TV timeouts, and there will be less commercials. The overall game time will be roughly 150 minutes.
If a game should go into overtime, both teams will be allowed to have the ball once. The ball will be placed on the 10 yard line and it will be first and goal. If both teams score a touchdown and convert the 2 point conversion, then the game will end in a tie.
There is no onside kick’s. There will be onside conversions instead. Inside of 5 minuets if a team is down by 17 points or more, they must convert a 4th and 12 from their 28 to keep the ball. No more than 5 players can rush the quarterback. If illegal defense is called there will be a 15 yard penalty.
As of now the AAF only has eight teams. The Arizona Hotshots, Atlanta Legends, Birmingham Iron, Memphis Express, Orlando Apollos, Salt Lake Stallions, San Antonio Commanders and the San Diego Fleet. The AAF debuted February 9th on CBS, and actually had a higher viewer rating(2.1) than the Houston Rockets vs Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game(2.0) that was being shown on ABC. The AAF playoffs will start April 20th with the championship being played April 27th. The AAF can be viewed on CBS, CBS Sports Network, NFL Network, TNT and B/R Live. The AAF should keep football fans excited during the spring time, until the NFL returns in the fall.
