What do chains measure in football?
This is the 100th season of the NFL, and the league has used chains to measure first downs for most of this time. The chain connects two signal poles to indicate how far the team on offense must go to get the first down.
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How do they know where to put the chains in football?
Location. For games at all levels except the NFL and NCAA, the chain crew operates on the side of the field opposite the press box (usually the visiting team’s sideline). In the NFL, the chain crew switches sides at halftime; the referee determines their initial placement.
How long is the chain in football?
Requirements. The two separate rods, which are commonly referred to as “sticks,” are attached together by a chain fixed to the bottom. The chain is exactly ten yards long, thus when fully spread out and positioned the rods are always exactly ten feet apart. The sticks are often orange to enhance visibility.
How accurate is chain measurement?
The most accurate chain-wear method is direct mea- surement. Since chains are on an inch standard, if the distance between the pins on either end of a set of 24 links measures 12-1/8”, rather than 12”, the chain length has grown by one percent (since 0.125” is approximately 1 percent of 12”).
What part of the chains is a first down?
Well, to avoid this, most officials will tell the chains to not only set up on a specific yard line — rarely in between yard lines — they will also tell the chains to set up on the back edge of that yard line. That way, the officials know that if the ball is across any part of the white-yard marker, it is a first down.