They're not exactly the same thing. Gridiron football is a whole category of football games, including the substantially similar US amateur and pro games, Canad

They're not exactly the same thing. Gridiron football is a whole category of football games, including the substantially similar US amateur and pro games, Canadian football, Arena football, etc. But all use the same type of ball and have forward passing, and so I agree that gridiron football probably is the more accurate term for this article. On the other hand, I don't feel like it's often used in real conversation.