Can somebody please explain American Football to me?

At the beginning of the game, a coin flip decides who kicks and who recieves the ball. The game begins with the opening kickoff. The receiving team catches the kicked ball and tries to return it to the opponent's end zone (goal). If tackled or if they run out of bounds or take a touchback (kneel in their own end zone if the ball is caught there and not advanced out of the end zone). At this point, the traditional part of football begins.

The offensive team starts where the ball was downed after the kickoff is concluded. This is where the player was tackled, ran out of bounds, or at the 20 yard line if they kneeled it down for a touchback. The goal of the offensive team is to get the ball across the goal line into the end zone for a touchdown, which is worth 6 points. They also have the option of kicking the ball through the goal posts (uprights) for a field goal, which is worth 3 points. Play begins when the offense "snaps" the ball. At this point, the offense must either run the ball or complete a forward pass to advance the ball up the field. Just as with the kickoff, the play is ruled over when the player with the ball is tackled to the ground (a knee or elbow constitutes being down), runs out of bounds, scores a touchdown, or a turnover occurs. A turnover in football is when a player running with the ball drops it, known as a fumble, or the player who is responsible for passing the ball (usually the quarterback) throws it and it is caught by the defending team, known as an interception. If a turnover occurs, the defending team now has possession of the ball.

The key to the game is downs. The offensive team has 4 tries, known as downs, to try and get at least 10 yards up the field. If they fail to do so, it is called a turnover on downs, and the defending team takes possession where the ball was down at after the 4th down (try). If the offensive team is successful in getting at least 10 yards during any of those downs, they get a new set of 4 downs to try and get 10 yards again.

Strategy comes into play with what we call the punt. If the offensive team has been unsuccessful in their first 3 downs at getting a first down, they can perform a punt play, where a player drop kicks the ball to the opposing team. The receiving team then proceeds to try and advance the ball up the field until tackled or ran out of bounds or scoring a touchdown.

After a successful touchdown, the offensive team tries what is called an "extra point." There are two varieties, the single point and the two point tries. To get 1 extra point after a touchdown, the team must kick a field goal from the 2 yard line through the uprights. If they want to try and get 2 points, they must advance the ball across the goal line from the 2 yard line by either running or passing the ball.

After every successful score, the offensive team then must kick off to the opposing team, and the whole cycle repeats itself.

I haven't even gotten into the beyond numerous rules there are about the game. It's a very complex game, but fun once you know the ins and outs.

Overall, american football can be compared to chess or medieval/colonial warfare.

I only ever began to understand it once I started playing football video games. Side note: NFL Blizt for N64 was awesome.