What Is A Safety In Football

American football is a spectacular sport to watch with games in the top league seem like a real battle, the ball is moving up and down, it’s a fast paced sport to watch and excites many fans.

One rule that is often confused is called safety.

Let’s go and find out what a safety in football really is. Let’s dive right in.

Meaning of a safety in football

One of the most common ways to see a safety in football is when a team mistakenly makes a mistake and commits a foul on their own end.

If an offensive player gets tackled in their own endzone this is considered as a safety. The opposition wins two points every time a team commits a safety.

And oddly enough, this is the only possible way for a team defending to win points.

Then the ‘safety kick’ happens when the offensive team should kick the ball to the team that scored the safety.

In general, we don’t see too many safeties in a match. Very rarely do we see too many safeties in a match.

Touchback vs. Safety: what’s the difference

Let’s draw a line between a touchback and safety:

When a team win possession of the ball in their own end zone but they are downed a touchback is given.

When a team gains possession of the ball and then runs back in their end zone and downed the opposition is awarded with a safety.

Is safety a good position in football?

Safety is one of the most vital positions in football to make sure that huge aggressive plates from the offence are blocked. Safeties should cover slot receivers and move fast around the pitch to catch as many running backs as possible.

Why do we see safeties happen in football?

An obvious reason is because both teams are eager to win the game and sometimes we witness matches where passionate players become careless and think about their tactics, committing fouls they could have avoided.

So that’s why we end up seeing teams score safety points in matches.

What does safety kicks mean?

A safety kick takes place when a safety is given and the team decides the player who kicks the ball known as kicker who either dropkicks the ball, punts it or kicks it off of a tee.

Unlike the common kicking that takes place from the 35-yard line, the safety kicking happens on the 20-yard line.

How to avoid a safety in football?

Let’s look at a couple of ways teams can stop giving away safeties such as keep it simple runs for offensive teams or short passes can prevent it.

Another way to do their absolute best to protect their quarterback to avoid giving away a safety which seems like handing easy points to the opposition.

In some very rare cases you might see teams take a safety on purpose. Two of the most common of those occasions is when a team doesn’t want to play a punt return or even punt, so they prefer to go for a safety instead as a last resort.

But bear in mind each time a team takes a safety it costs them two valuable points.

What is 1 point safety?

A one point safety happens when the safety happens on a point after touchdown (PAT) play. In case either team is tacked in their own end zone while on an attempt for PAT one point is given for the safety.

Imagine a PAT ends up being caught by the defending team, but the player caught the kick is fouled inside of their own end zone, the safety is going to count for one point.