One thing about football is that one play can have a huge impact on the game, but the overwhelming majority of plays do not. This gives you a contest where every new event could be meaningful and is worth watching, but doesn't become chaotic.

Compare this to tennis, where missing an individual shot can lose you the game but each failed attempted has roughly the same impact. Football (and soccer and baseball) are more like chess where one catastrophic play can essentially end the game, no matter what plays preceded or follow it.

This dynamic is about the difference between focus and consistency. Games like football and chess prioritize the focus not to make a disastrous mistake at any point. Games like basketball and scrabble emphasize performing with a high level of consistency and are more forgiving of rare large errors.