It is true that American football is a very structured game and in many ways resembles a military operation but the individual players are making more decisions they you may think. An offensive lineman has a narrowly defined role and he has specific things he is responsible for but if he sees something he is free to react to that. A running back has a route he is supposed to run but one of the things that makes a great running back is the ability to see better routes that develop and take those instead. A corner back has a player or zone to defend but it is his decision how to defend each player in each particular play and whether to go for the block the tackle or the interception. The same is true for just about every other player out the with the exception of things like place holder or kicker.

As fans we focus on the players who get mentioned on TV a lot and the ones who are scoring. That is much easier then understanding everything else that is going on. It usually comes down to who wins the individual one on one match ups and not just who has biggest super star. One of the things I like about football is that it is such a team effort and the outcome is completely dependent on how well a group executes very different task. In games like soccer, basketball ball and baseball most posistions are fairly similar when compared to football.