An NFL Sunday Survival Guide for Women Who Hate Football

Over-sized jerseys, never-ending chip bowls, and incessant trash-talk.

Welcome to your Sundays, ladies.

But we believe that no matter whether you’re dating a brand new guy or you’ve celebrated ten Thanksgivings with his family, it’s never too late to join him in his Sunday ritual – if you’re not already being forced to, that is.

What separates our guide from the competition, however, is that it will have you actually enjoying Sundays, too.

Join the Pack
Recent statistics are showing massive increases in female NFL viewership, likely due to an intentional push by the league and networks to draw in the other 50 percent of the market.

For you, this means the referees explaining more penalties, more women involved in commentary and analysis, and not every commercial will be featuring a pick-up truck.

In fact, more women watched last season’s Super Bowl (where the Seattle Seahawks destroyed the Denver Broncos, but you knew that, right?) than the total amount of people who tuned in to catch the Academy Awards.

Rule #1: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Who to Watch
If your BF/fiancé/husband is an avid fan, chances are he has “his team”, which means the TV will stay on “his game” for its entirety.

However, if he’s a mega-fan or a Fantasy Football player, there might even be an extra screen – or three – to keep things interesting.

This week, try catching Phil Rivers and the San Diego Chargers taking on one of the league’s worst teams, the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Rivers is a 6’5”, 32-year-old quarterback who founded a charity for foster children. As if that’s not hot enough, your man will be impressed with you for knowing that after a stellar performance in Week Two against the reigning champs, the Seahawks, he’s in the running for this year’s Most Valuable Player.

Rule #2: Know your QB. 

Trouble in Paradise
Off the field, the last couple of months have been tough times for the NFL. With scandals running rampant and making news bigger than the sport itself, there’s a lot to know and watch for if you’re going to stay in the conversation.

Start by reading up on Ray Rice (of the Baltimore Ravens) and Adrian Peterson (Minnesota Vikings). You probably won’t like what you find, but at least you’ll be able to get in on the debates.

Rule #3: Do your homework

Know the Rules
This week’s rule to learn is the two-point conversion.

As you probably know, when the ball crosses the line of scrimmage into the end zone, that’s a touchdown (TD) for the carrying team and six points are awarded.

Usually, a team then takes an easy kick through the uprights for an “extra point”, but when they’re desperate, they can “go for two” by throwing or running the ball into the end zone again. They only have one down to succeed, though.

Peyton Manning and the Broncos did this perfectly in last week’s Superbowl rematch. The play tied the game to bring it to overtime, where they ended up losing to a Seahawks TD, which is another rule for another week.

Rule #4: Now go actually enjoy your Sunday.

#NOTABLE

Images: hellobeautiful.com, rantsports.com, vnews.com

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