In the first season, the show centers on an 11-year-old football fan named Ish, who learns he must protect shards of a power source called "The Core", hidden at 32 NFL stadiums.

The third season, NFL Rush Zone: Guardians Unleashed, was announced on July 11, 2013; it premiered on November 20, 2013 and ended on October 22, 2014.

The series ended on an apparent cliffhanger with Wild Card's escape and return, indicating that a fourth season was planned.

Ish must protect one or more NFL team's Core shards from the villainous intergalactic alien cyborg warlord and conqueror Sudden Death every Sunday while trying not to be caught by his mom.

[3][4] One year after the defeat of Sudden Death, Ish has moved from San Diego to Canton, Ohio, and soon finds his role as a Guardian expanded with new powers and the emergence of the villainous Wild Card.

Ish, however soon regains his powers, and he and his friends have theirs upgraded for the re-match against Sudden Death and his allies the Anti-Corians, as well as the returns of Wild Card and Drop Kick.

With more training and experience than before, he is able to manifest a power armor with various abilities that consists of a football uniform and helmet via his new NFL-R watch with an inserted shield coin by shouting "Enter the Rush Zone!"

He is soon joined by a new team of Guardians with similar power armors, including his old friend Ash, and works together with them to protect the 32 Megacores from the evil Wild Card's clutches.

Ashley "Ash" Reynolds – A tomboyish Caucasian redhead with freckles and green eyes, she is a good student and athlete.

She lost her mother a few years ago, and is now being raised by Charles Reynolds, her loving, and sometimes overprotective father.

Troy Kang – A fun-loving and daring, slightly arrogant and hot-headed Korean-American 11-year-old boy who often leaps before he looks.

Martin "Marty" Stevens – An excitable fast-talking, Caucasian 11-year-old who is always ready to pull a prank, crack a joke, or defend his beloved Cleveland Browns.

Sudden Death – In the first season, he planned on using the Core to take over the universe and hired Ash when she was rejected as the Guardian.

After playing both sides in the third season finale, he escapes, vowing to eventually return while telling Ish and his friends to never underestimate the Wild Card.

In the episode "The Mystery Guardian", it is revealed that Drop Kick's true identity is Sidekick, also known as RZ 1.0, Richard Zimmer's robot assistant.

Eventually, fed up with Wild Card's mistreatment of him, Drop Kick betrays his master near the end of the second season to try and take power for himself, but is defeated and destroyed by the Guardians.

In the second season, he reveals himself as a supercomputer named RZ 6.0, telling Ish that "OT" was just one of many avatars he took to hide his true self.

At first, she was clueless to the goings-on in regards to Ish's Guardian Status and was deeply puzzled by his newfound propensity to wander off, though she later found out.

The Gameballz – Ish's guardians in the first season: BlitzBotz – Sudden Death's mechanical minions with one mission: collect the shards.