The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues and the highest professional level of American football in the world. Each NFL season begins with a three-week preseason in August, followed by the eighteen-week regular season which runs from early September to the end of December, with each team playing seventeen games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, seven teams from each conference advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament that culminates in the Super Bowl, which is contested in February and is played between the AFC and NFC conference champions. The league is headquartered in New York City.
Sidney Luckman was an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1939 through 1950. During his twelve seasons with the Bears, he led them to four NFL championships.
Howard Matthew Moses Long is a former American football defensive end, actor, and sports analyst. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons and spent his entire career with the Raiders franchise in Oakland and Los Angeles. Selected by the Raiders in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft, Long received eight Pro Bowl and three first-team All-Pro selections while helping the team win a Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XVIII. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
Derrick Dewan Brooks is an American former football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brooks played college football at Florida State, where he twice received consensus All-American honors, and was selected by the Buccaneers in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft. An 11-time Pro Bowl selection and five-time first-team All-Pro, Brooks was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2002 en route to winning the franchise's first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXVII. Following his retirement, Brooks served as co-owner and president of the Tampa Bay Storm in the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2011 to 2017. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016.
Will Herthie Shields is an American former professional football player who was an offensive guard in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, earning consensus All-American honors and winning the Outland Trophy. He played his entire professional career for the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, and never missed a game in 14 seasons. Shields was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
Walter Jones Jr. is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons. Born in Alabama, he played college football for the Florida State Seminoles.
Walter Andrew Kiesling was an American football guard and tackle who spent 36 years as a player, coach, and aide with National Football League (NFL) teams. He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and was named to the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team in 1969.
Troy McHenry Walters is an American football coach and former player who is currently the wide receivers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). Walters played as a wide receiver and punt returner in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. Walters played college football for Stanford University, was a consensus All-American and was recognized as the outstanding college wide receiver in the country. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, and also played professionally for the Indianapolis Colts, Arizona Cardinals and Detroit Lions of the NFL.
Walter Jerry Payton was an American professional football player who was a running back for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He is regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. A nine-time Pro Bowl selectee, Payton is remembered as a prolific rusher, once holding records for career rushing yards, touchdowns, carries, yards from scrimmage, all-purpose yards, and many other categories. He was also versatile; he retired with the most receptions by a non-receiver, and he had eight career touchdown passes. He was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame that same year, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996. He was named to the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1994 and the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019. Hall of Fame NFL player and coach Mike Ditka described Payton as the greatest football player he had ever seen—but even greater as a human being.
Dean Elmer Steinkuhler is a former professional American football guard in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons in the 1980s and 1990s. Steinkuhler played college football for the University of Nebraska, and was recognized as an All-American. He was selected in the first round of the 1984 NFL Draft, and played professionally for the Houston Oilers of the NFL.
Michael David Walter is a former professional American football linebacker in the National Football League for the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of Oregon.
Robert Brett Zatechka is a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the New York Giants. He was born to Douglas and Jane Zatechka in 1971. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1995 NFL Draft out of the University of Nebraska. In college, he won both the Draddy Trophy and a Walter Byers Scholarship. He was the first Giant draft pick to sign after the 1995 draft.
Walter Ree Holmer was an American football player and coach. He played professionally as a quarterback and running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Boston Redskins, and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Holmer served as the head football coach at Boston University in 1942 and 1946 and at Colby College from 1947 to 1950. He played college football at Northwestern University.
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.
The Colgate Raiders football team represents Colgate University in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college football competition as a member of the Patriot League.
Walter Riley Thurmond III is a former American football safety. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL) in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He won Super Bowl XLVIII with the Seahawks over the Denver Broncos, and he also played for the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at Oregon. He also played recreational softball in Philly in spring 2016 under the pseudonym Dick Mahoney.
The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award is presented annually by the National Football League (NFL) honoring a player's volunteer and charity work, as well as his excellence on the field. Prior to 1999, it was called simply the NFL Man of the Year Award. Shortly after Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton died, the award was renamed to honor his legacy as a humanitarian.
Cooper Douglas Kupp is an American football wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Eastern Washington, where he won the Walter Payton Award as a junior, and was selected by the Rams in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Kupp had a breakout season in 2021 when he became the fourth NFL player to lead the league in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. He received the Offensive Player of the Year Award and was the MVP of Super Bowl LVI.
Laken Tomlinson is a Jamaican-born American professional American football offensive guard for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Duke. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft.
Walter John Zirinsky was an American football halfback who was a member of the Cleveland Rams team that won the 1945 NFL Championship.
