Questions About Football Rules

[Direckshun]

Season's over, so it's time for myself to go to school.

This might reveal me to be a shallow mind in the sport of football, but I would like an explanation on a couple of the following rules. Why do we have them? What constructive purpose do they serve?

You have 11 guys who's purpose is to score on another 11 guys. That's a pretty simple premise, and yet the NFL has a cacophony of rules to complicate it for reasons I don't understand.

"Offensive team must have at least seven players on line." (Why does this matter?)

"Offensive players, not on line, must be at least one yard back at snap." (Why does this matter?)

"No player of offensive team may charge or move abruptly, after assuming set position, in such manner as to lead defense to believe snap has started. No player of the defensive team within one yard of the line of scrimmage may make an abrupt movement in an attempt to cause the offense to false start." (Why not? If the other team jumps offsides, they jumped offsides. Penalize them, not the people who suckered them over.)

Why can't anybody on the offense catch the ball any time they want to? Why does eligibility need to be declared?

"All players of offensive team must be stationary at snap, except one back who may be in motion parallel to scrimmage line or backward (not forward)." (Why can't the non-line players move anytime or anywhere on their side of the ball pre-snap?)

"Loss of team time out(s) or five-yard penalty on the defense for excessive crowd noise." (What the hell is this about?)

Does it really matter how many players are in the huddle, as long as they aren't lining up when the team readies to snap the ball?

What's "leaping" or "leverage," and why are they illegal?