Safety (football)
From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
In American football and Canadian football, safety can refer to:
- two positions in the most-common defensive backfield setup, the strong safety and the free safety, or
- a type of score, worth one or two points.
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[edit] Safety scores
A safety, also known in Canadian football as a safety touch, is the act by which one team gains two points when an opponent who possesses the ball:
- is tackled in his own end zone
- runs out of bounds in or behind the end line of his own end zone
- fumbles the ball out of bounds in the end zone or across the end line
- downs (kneels or falls on) the ball in the end zone (an intentional safety)
- commits certain penalties, such as holding or intentional grounding, in the end zone.
If a player on the defense gains possession of the ball in their own end zone through a fumble recovery or interception and is tackled there, it is a
An
Safeties are by far the rarest of scores in American football. No National Football League team has ever recorded more than four in one season. Safeties usually occur when the offense starts a play close to its own end zone. In such cases, offenses often run very conservative, low-risk plays to avoid a safety. However, sometimes the defense tackles a ball-carrier before he can escape the end zone or
Safeties are somewhat more common in Canadian football (see below).
[edit] Free kicks
In American football, safeties are followed by a free kick — by the team that 'allowed' the safety — from its own 20-yard line. That team can choose to punt, drop kick or placekick the ball to the other team (as they are not allowed to use a tee, which would be a kickoff). Normally, the team chooses to punt; the drop kick is virtually unheard of in practical play. Other rules are the same as on a kickoff, including rules for
[edit] Elective safeties
Occasionally, the team with the ball may concede a safety intentionally. This is quite common on third down in Canadian football, since a punt from the end zone would give the other team much better field position than a kickoff from the 35-yard line would. Elective safeties are not seen often in four-down football. American teams would only take a safety on purpose if they were winning by 3-7 points very late in the game and didn't want to risk giving up a touchdown on a punt from their own end zone. This is considered good game strategy, and is rare simply because the situation does not arise very often. However, this exploitation of the play is the reason it is called a "safety".
Another situation is with a loose ball in the offense's own end zone (caused by a fumble or a blocked punt). An offensive player will often intentionally kick or bat the loose ball out of the end zone to cause a safety. This prevents the defensive team from getting a chance at a recovery in the end zone and a touchdown.
[edit] Safeties on conversion attempts
College football's rules allow either team to score a one-point safety after a touchdown. Say that Team B blocks Team A's extra-point attempt, and a player on Team B picks up the ball on the 1-yard line. Looking for an opening, the player with the ball runs backwards two yards, where he is tackled. Team A receives one point, and the score is now 7-0. Team A then kicks off from its own 35-yard line. This has happened at least once before, in a game between Texas and Texas A&M in 2004.
Another scenario would be if Team B had blocked the kick and began to run it back for two points, but at the last moment a pursuer from Team A knocked the ball loose. If he were to pick up the ball, run into the endzone and be tackled, Team B would score one point, and the score would then be 6-1. Not only has this never happened, but it probably never will given the rarity of a block, a last second fumble, and a bad choice on the part of whoever recovered the fumble. It is notable, however, for being the only possible way to finish a game with a score of exactly one point in a game of American football.
The NFL also has a one-point safety rule on conversion attempts. However, a one-point safety would be almost impossible in the NFL, since the ball becomes dead immediately if the defense gains possession of it during a conversion attempt.
[edit] Records
The NFL team record for safeties in a game is three, by the
Only two NFL games have ever ended in
The