BEN GOULD looks at some of the common practises in American gridiron and says good old English soccer might do well to copy a few of them

To the unconverted, American team sports might as well be from another planet – fiendishly complex and statobsessed, yet simultaneously ultra-tedious, with adverts every other minute to ensure games last for aeons. But although some of those accusations are hard to deny, the NFL – now the granddaddy of US sports – is ultracompetitive and genuinely unpredictable. Remember the heady days when the unfancied likes of Aston Villa an...