What is rb in football

A running back RB is the position of a player on an American or Canadian football team who usually lines up in the offensive backfield.

The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block. There are usually one or two running backs on the field for a given play, depending on the offensive formation. A running back may be a halfback HB for short, in certain contexts also referred to as a tailback or a fullback FB. The halfback or tailback position is one of the more glamorous positions on the field, as it is often integral in both the passing and running attack.

A well-rounded halfback is commonly viewed as a requirement for a team's success. He is responsible for carrying the ball on the majority of running plays, and may frequently be used as a receiver on short passing plays.

In today's game, an effective halfback must have a superior blend of both quickness and agility as a runner, as well as sure hands and shrewd vision upfield as a receiver.

More and more quarterbacks depend on halfbacks as a dump-off receiver when primary targets downfield are covered. Occasionally, they line up as additional wide receivers. When not serving either of these functions, the primary responsibility of a halfback is to aid the offensive linemen in blocking, either to protect the quarterback or another player carrying the football.

On some rare occasions, running backs are used to pass the ball on a halfback option play or halfback pass. Like the wide receiver, who generally cannot make big plays without the quarterback passing to him with the exception of the end-around or a reverse , the running back nearly always needs good blocking from the offensive line to successfully gain yardage.

Also, a running back will generally have more rushing attempts than a receiver will have receptions, which is mainly because a receiver must catch a pass to obtain a reception, while a running back usually takes a direct handoff or short pitch from the quarterback before registering a rushing attempt.

Note that the difference between halfback and tailback is simply the position of the player in the team's offensive formation. The halfback lines up approximately half-way between the line of scrimmage and the fullback similarly, quarterbacks line up a quarter of the distance between the line of scrimmage and the fullback.

Because the halfback is usually the team's main ball carrier while the fullback is primarily a blocker , many coaches see fit to position the halfback behind the fullback at the "tail end" of the formation.

In this case, the halfback becomes a tailback. In most college and professional football schemes, fullbacks carry the ball infrequently. Currently, they are primarily used to aid the offensive linemen in blocking. Send us feedback.

See more words from the same year. Accessed 14 Nov. More Definitions for running back. See the full definition for running back in the English Language Learners Dictionary. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Log in Sign Up. This is an offensive position on a football team whose responsibility it is to run the ball and occasionally catch short passes. The running back is usually considered the primary option for all rushing plays.

There are, however, a few other positions on the team who will occasionally run the ball. All those movement possibilities can make the defense confused, and facilitate a play or a touchdown. There are no players whose specific position is wingback; different athletes with different skills and body types can play the position depending on what is needed on each play.

Though the above list encompasses the position names and jobs associated with particular types of running backs, there are a number of other names given to running backs to describe their traits and where they excel in particular. Those are as follows:. A power back is a big strong running back who uses all his power and strength to get past defenders and run with the ball.

Power backs are not very fast or agile due to their size and weight; their main goal is not to have long runs, but to get those crucial yards in a third down situation or maybe the remaining yards on a touchdown drive. The speed back can be considered to be the opposite of the power back. Speed backs are fast and agile and use those abilities to get past defenders. Coaches draw plays for speed backs where they can run long runs, and those types of players are used at the beginning of a down cycle.

Speed backs do not have the muscle that power backs have, and so they will be easily stopped by defensive linemen. All purpose backs are an extremely valuable type of player.