Scoring with a Safety

There are five (5) ways to score points in the NFL:

6 points – Touchdown. The ball breaks the plane of the goal line when a runner carries the ball over the plane or a pass is caught in the end zone.

3 points – Field Goal. The ball is kicked through the uprights.

2 points – Safety. The quarterback is sacked in the end zone by the opposing team.

2 points – Two Point Conversion. Instead of kicking the ball after a touchdown for 1 point, the ball is caught in the end zone on a pass play for 2 points, or a runner breaks the plane of the goal line for 2 points. The cumulative touchdown score is 8.

1 point – Point After Touchdown. The ball is kicked after a Touchdown to make the cumulative Touchdown score 7.

The San Francisco 49ers played the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati. The final score was 13-8, with San Francisco improving their record to 2-1 and Cincinnati falling to 1-2.

The Cincinnati Bengals scored 8 points, and they could get there two ways. In one scoring scenario, they could score a Touchdown and go for the Two Point Conversion instead of the Point After Touchdown. The 6 points from the Touchdown and the 2 Points from the Two Point Conversion totals 8 points.

In this game, they scored two Field Goals for a total of 6 points, and then had a Safety which gave them another 2 points. This gave them a game total of 8 points.

The most common scores are 3 points for a Field Goal, and 7 points combined for a Touchdown. The 8 points scored by Cincinnati indicated to me that they had a Safety or a Two Point Conversion. The Safety is not a common score because the quarterback is not often in (or close to) the end zone. When the quarterback is that close to the end zone, and a Safety is a possibility, the offensive line needs to be aware of the quarterback’s position in order to protect the quarterback and prevent the other team from scoring.