In gridiron football, a safety is scored when the ball becomes dead behind the goal line of the team in possession of the ball (unless the ball arrived in the end zone due to impetus from the other team). In most instances, a safety is scored by the defensive team when the ball-carrier of the team in possession of the ball retreats into his own end zone and is tackled or steps out of play from the end zone. A safety can also occur when the offensive team loses control of the ball and it goes out of play from the end zone. Due to their uncommon nature, there are a number of records relating to safeties.
Games in which both teams scored a safety According to Pro Football Reference, only 9 NFL games since 1940, and only 1 since 1995, have seen both teams score at least one safety. In none of these 9 games did either team score more than one safety.Pro Football Reference; In a single game, from 1940 to 2017, requiring opp Safeties >= 1 and Safeties >= 1, sorted by ascending Date Date Road team Road Score Home team Home Score Pro Football Reference; San Francisco 49ers at Chicago Bears – October 19th, 1952 San Francisco 49ers 40 Chicago Bears 16 Pro Football Reference; Cincinnati Bengals at Los Angeles Rams – October 22nd, 1972 Cincinnati Bengals 12 Los Angeles Rams 15 Pro Football Reference; Chicago Bears at San Francisco 49ers – September 19th, 1976 Chicago Bears 19 San Francisco 49ers 12 Pro Football Reference; Baltimore Colts at Miami Dolphins – October 29th, 1978 Baltimore Colts 8 Miami Dolphins 26 Pro Football Reference; Detroit Lions at Atlanta Falcons – October 5th, 1980 Detroit Lions 28 Atlanta Falcons 43 Pro Football Reference; Houston Oilers at Philadelphia Eagles – October 2nd, 1988 Houston Oilers 23 Philadelphia Eagles 32 Pro Football Reference; Cleveland Browns at Seattle Seahawks – November 14th, 1993 Cleveland Browns 5 Seattle Seahawks 22 Pro Football Reference; Arizona Cardinals at Houston Oilers – December 4th, 1994 Arizona Cardinals 30 Houston Oilers 12 Pro Football Reference; New York Jets at Miami Dolphins – November 3rd, 2019 New York Jets 18 Miami Dolphins 26
Games in which a team scored only safeties According to Pro-Football Reference, only 38 games in NFL history (including the AFPA, AAFC and AFL, leagues that were later merged into the NFL) and only eight since the NFL/AFL merger of 1970 have ended with one team scoring only a safety (or multiple safeties).
Date Winner Winning score Loser Losing Score Akron Pros 2 Buffalo All-Americans 0 Kansas City Cowboys 2 Buffalo Rangers 0 Frankford Yellow Jackets 2 Green Bay Packers 0 Green Bay Packers 2 Chicago Bears 0 Chicago Bears 2 Green Bay Packers 0 Dayton Triangles 3 Cleveland Indians 2 Chicago Cardinals 3 Milwaukee Badgers 2 Green Bay Packers 6 Chicago Bears 2 Dallas Cowboys 6 Cleveland Browns 2 Kansas City Cowboys 7 Hartford Blues 2 Kansas City Cowboys 7 Chicago Cardinals 2 New England Patriots 7 Cincinnati Bengals 2 Green Bay Packers 9 Chicago Cardinals 2 Duluth Eskimos 10 Canton Bulldogs 2 Racine Legion 10 Chicago Cardinals 4^ Milwaukee Badgers 13 Oorang Indians 2 Milwaukee Badgers 13 Racine Tornadoes 2 Detroit Lions 13 Minnesota Vikings 2 Columbus Tigers 14 Canton Bulldogs 2 Green Bay Packers 14 Frankford Yellow Jackets 2 Detroit Lions 14 Chicago Bears 2 Chicago Bears 14 Green Bay Packers 2 Baltimore Colts 14 Los Angeles Rams 2 Chicago Bears 20 Cleveland Rams 2 Providence Steam Roller 21 Canton Bulldogs 2 New York Giants 23 Pittsburgh Pirates 2† Detroit Lions 23 Los Angeles Rams 2 Pittsburgh Steelers 24 San Diego Chargers 2 New England Patriots 24 Buffalo Bills 2 New York Giants 24 Atlanta Falcons 2‡ Pittsburgh Steelers 27 Chicago Cardinals 2August 18, 2024Denver Broncos27Green Bay Packers2* Kansas City Chiefs 28 Jacksonville Jaguars 2 Green Bay Packers 31 Boston Redskins 2 Dallas Cowboys 31 New York Giants 2December 25, 2024Baltimore Ravens31Houston Texans2 (AFL) Kansas City Chiefs 34 Denver Broncos 2 (AAFC) Cleveland Browns 35 Chicago Hornets 2 San Francisco 49ers 37 New Orleans Saints 2 Los Angeles Rams 45 Baltimore Colts 2
^ This is the only game in NFL history as of 2025 that has finished with a team scoring a total of exactly four points. † This was the first ever game for the Pittsburgh Steelers (then the Pirates), who thus scored the franchise's first points on a safety. ‡ This is the only playoff game as of the conclusion of the 2025 postseason where a team scored a total of exactly two points.
*This was a preseason game
Records The NFL team record for safeties in a game is three, which occurred when the Los Angeles Rams recorded three against the New York Giants on September 30, 1984. All three safeties occurred in the third quarter, so this game also represents the record for safeties scored in a single quarter. The individual record is two, by the Rams' Fred Dryer against the Green Bay Packers on October 21, 1973. Jared Allen, Ted Hendricks, Justin Houston and Doug English share the NFL career record for safeties with four.
League-wide, the record for most safeties scored by all teams in a regular season is 26 in 1988. The fewest safeties scored across the league is 0, occurring in 1943. The season with the greatest frequency of safeties was 1932, with eight safeties in 48 games (one safety every six games). The season with the lowest frequency of safeties, outside of the 1943 season, was 1966, with three safeties in 105 games (one safety every 35 games).
Only three regular-season NFL games have ever ended in overtime with a safety: in 1989 when the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Los Angeles Rams 23–21 when Mike Merriweather blocked a punt into the end zone, in 2004 when the Chicago Bears defeated the Tennessee Titans 19–17 when Billy Volek fumbled in his own end zone and teammate Fred Miller recovered it but was tackled by Adewale Ogunleye in the end zone, and in 2013 when the Miami Dolphins defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 22–20 when Cameron Wake sacked Andy Dalton in the end zone. In a 1989 pre-season game, the New York Jets defeated the host Kansas City Chiefs 15–13 in overtime when Jets defensive lineman Dennis Byrd sacked Chiefs third-string quarterback Mike Elkins in the end zone.
The NCAA does not keep individual statistics for safeties. Prior to the 1978 split of the NCAA's Division I into two subdivisions, there is only one known instance of a Division I team scoring three safeties in a single game: Penn State scored three safeties against Maryland in 1966."Penn State Trips Terrapins, 15-7." Palm Beach Post. 1966 Sept 18. Retrieved 2014-Jan-14. Since the NCAA Division I split into Division I-A (now called Division I FBS) and Division I-AA (now called Division I FCS leading up to the 1978 season, there have been three instances of an FBS team scoring three safeties in a game, at least five instances of an FCS team scoring exactly three safeties in a game, and one additional instance of an FCS team scoring four safeties in a game. In the FBS, the following teams scored three safeties in a single game: Arizona State in 1996 (in a 19-0 victory over then-No. 1 and two-time defending national champion Nebraska, ending the Cornhuskers' 26-game winning streak); North Texas in a win over Louisiana-Lafayette (now known as Louisiana) in 2003; and Bowling Green in a win over Miami (Ohio) in 2005. In the FCS, Montana State scored four safeties against Weber State in 2022, all of them on errant snaps out of the end zone, setting an FCS record and tying the overall NCAA record. (Three of those safeties occurred in the first half of the game, which is tied with two other instances for an FCS record for most safeties in one half.) An FCS team scored exactly three safeties in the following games: Alabama State in a win over Division II Albany State in 1988, the University of Massachusetts Amherst in a shutout over Albany in 2005, the University of Massachusetts Amherst scored only six points in a game (from three safeties) against Rhode Island in 2007, Davidson University against Drake University in 2007 (all in one half of the game, which is tied for an FCS record), and Prairie View A&M in a loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2011 (all in the second quarter, which is an FCS record). In 2004, when Iowa defeated Penn State 6–4, because of Iowa's two field goals and Penn State's two safeties, it was the only instance of such a score in the modern era, and it was the first time since Florida lost to Miami 31–4 in 1987 that a team finished a game with exactly four points. The only other occasion on which a game ended with that score was when Rutgers defeated Princeton in 1869 by six "runs" to four in what is recognized as the first intercollegiate football game.
On October 18, 2025, the University of Virginia broke a late-game tie in a home game against Washington State University with a defensive safety, which proved to be the game-winning score in a 20-22 game.
Notable safeties
1929 Rose Bowl On January 1, 1929, the California Golden Bears faced the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Midway through the second quarter, center Roy Riegels picked up a fumble by Tech's Jack "Stumpy" Thomason 30 yards from the Yellow Jackets' end zone, but was turned around during the play, and ran 69 yards in the wrong direction.Roy Riegels, 84, Who Took Off In the Wrong Direction in Rose Bowl
Teammate and quarterback Benny Lom chased Riegels and screamed at him to stop; Lom finally caught up with Riegels at California's 3-yard line and tried to turn him around, but he was hit by a wave of Tech players and thrown back to the 1-yard line.
The Bears chose to punt rather than risk a play so close to their own end zone, but Tech's Vance Maree blocked Lom's punt for a safety, giving Georgia Tech a 2–0 lead. Georgia Tech would ultimately win the game, and their second national championship, by a final score of 8–7. This play is often cited as the worst blunder in the history of college football.
The Baugh/Marshall Rule
In the first quarter of the 1945 NFL Championship Game, the Washington Redskins had the ball at their own five-yard line. Dropping back into his own end zone, quarterback Sammy Baugh threw for a pass, but the ball hit the goal post (at the time, this was on the goal line instead of at the back of the end zone) and fell to the ground in the end zone. Under the rules at the time, this was ruled as a safety, thus giving the Cleveland Rams a 2–0 lead. The Rams went on to win 15–14, meaning the safety proved to be the margin of victory.
Redskins owner George Preston Marshall was so angry at the outcome that he became a major force in passing the following major rule change after the season: A forward pass that strikes the goal posts is automatically ruled incomplete. This change later became known as the "Baugh/Marshall Rule". The rule was deleted in 1974 when the goalposts were moved to the back of the end zone, thus eliminating the possibility of a forward pass striking them.
The wrong way run On October 25, 1964, Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall recovered a San Francisco 49ers fumble, but ran 66 yards the wrong way into his own end zone. He subsequently spiked the ball out of the end zone, thinking he had scored a touchdown, only to realize the 49ers were given two points (as he had scored a safety), the first time the offense received points for a 2-point safety in the NFL.
Despite this gaffe, the Vikings won the game 27–22, with the final margin of victory being provided by a Carl Eller touchdown from return of a fumble caused when Marshall sacked 49ers quarterback Billy Kilmer.
First one-point safety The first known occurrence of a one-point safety (conversion safety) was in an NCAA game on October 2, 1971, scored by Syracuse in the first quarter of a game at Indiana.