Offensive backfield

The offensive backfield is an ambiguous generic term of football, which includes: (1) a place, namely the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage; and (2) a group classification of certain players positioned there, i.e., members of offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including any backs on the field, such as the quarterback, halfbacks and fullback.

[2] Some of the greatest backfields in the history of college football include those of the 1912 Carlisle Indians, 1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado, 1924 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and 1945 Army Cadets.

Typically, quarterbacks or halfbacks passed the ball, and fullbacks handled kicking duties.

If the offensive ball-carrier is tackled in the backfield, the team will lose yards, in that the distance they need to attain for a first down is more than at the beginning of the play.

The quarterback can run as far back as he wants with the ball, but if he is still inside the "tacklebox" (the area between where the tackles line up) and does not throw the ball past the line of scrimmage, he will be called with intentional grounding and results in a 10-yard penalty and a loss of the down.