yes, my younger son who is 8 started playing mascot mode at 5 years old and now can line up and have an understanding of football and play other modes. He plays many other games, i pay attention to the ratings (he is the youngest), and my older son had to be on and stay on the honor role to get his 360 and keep the 360 they play on.
In texas and okl(lawton) they have football teams in the elementary school system. Tackle and full pads starting at the third grade level 7-8 year olds. My older son played 11 on 11 tackle football at his school at 8 years old. So a basic understanding of football or video games is there for some 5-10 year olds.
It might have been 8 on 8 in the third grade teams.