Hi, sorry could not avoid putting my little joke in - an Argentinian, an Italian, and English etc., would tell you you don't play football with your hands, unless you are the goalkeeper, it is American football that is played with the hands
;-)
The first reports of a game going towards football go back centuries elsewhere, and modern football was invented in England, well before American football.
You could make the joke that it is because someone was so bad at playing football, that took the ball in its hand to carry it, instead of playing football
:-D