Football Zombie

The Football Zombie is a powerful zombie first met in the Night levels. The Football Zombie itself is only as strong as a normal Zombie, but cannot be damaged unless its helmet absorbs enough damage to fall off or is stolen by a Magnet-shroom (without a helmet, it takes 10 normal damage shots like a regular zombie). The football zombie is incredibly annoying and it is recommended to use Magnet-shrooms unless your defense is above average.

Overview
Absorbs 80 normal damage shots. Appearance changes upon absorption of 24, 47, 70, and 75 normal damage shots.

Adventure Mode and Survival: Endless


The Suburban Almanac advises the use of a Magnet-shroom, reducing the maximum absorption to 10 normal damage shots. The use of heavy damage plants, such as the Melon-pult, or movement restricting plants, such as the Snow Pea, Kernel-pult, and Winter Melon, are other options. In general, just pile tons of fire power onto it if these options are unavailable, or use an instant kill. Hypno-shrooms are also good against them in earlier levels.

I, Zombie
Avoid use around nearby Magnet-shrooms, a Squash in the same lane, or a Chomper that is not recharging. Otherwise, deploy when large amounts of damage need to be absorbed. (Sometimes, it may be more efficient to use a Ladder Zombie instead of one if there is a Snow Pea, as frequently less damage would need to be absorbed if the zombie in that row was able to move at a normal speed, and the peas cannot go through the ladder.)

Trivia

 * Most zombies lose their left arm when they take enough damage. The Football Zombie loses its right arm instead.
 * In the online version of Plants vs. Zombies, in Survival: Night (Hard): Endless, and Vasebreaker Endless, you can encounter a black-and-grey Giga Football Zombie with the health of a Gargantuar.
 * If a Football Zombie chews on a Garlic, it will not stop and make a face, but will instead go instantly to another lane. The only other zombies that do this are the Ladder Zombie and the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie.


 * In the music video Zombies on Your Lawn, the Football Zombie says that it used to play football, but its Suburban Almanac entry states that it doesn't know what football is.
 * Maybe he doesn't remember what's the name of the sport but he knows how to play it.
 * The Football Zombie's helmet is available in the Xbox Live Marketplace for 160 Microsoft Points.
 * In the website of Plants vs Zombies, the Football Zombie has a regular Zombie head and a piece of dirt on the headwear, but in the game, the Football Zombie has purple eyes and looks at the house, and the piece of dirt is absent.
 * The Football Zombie is the one of the three characters that have stripes on their faces. The other two are the Giga Football Zombie and the Gatling Pea Zombie.
 * Instead of a number on the Football Zombie's jersey and helmet, there's a skull.
 * If a Football Zombie is hit by Butter while running, it may cause him to freeze in midair. this will also happen if he is frozen by an ice-shroom.