Rules Quiz
Tough quiz: 7 calls you may never see in NFL (but how would you rule?)
Team A attempts a two-point conversion. Quarterback A1 fumbles the ball while trying to hand off to A2, and the ball rolls parallel to the goal line, coming to a rest on the 3-yard line. Defensive lineman B1 tries to land on the ball, but he instead forces the ball into the end zone where it then rolls out of bounds. What is the call?
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3. One-point safety
Team A kicks off from the A35. On any other play from scrimmage that is not an extra-point attempt, the play as described is ruled as a safety on the defense. Because the defense forced the ball into its own end zone, that makes a dead ball in the end zone a safety. (If the offense forces the ball into and becomes dead in the defense’s end zone without possessing the ball, it is ruled a touchback.)
On the conversion attempt, you score two points for what would ordinarily be a touchdown, one point for what would be a field goal. A never-used provision in the rulebook states that if the play is ruled a safety against the defense, it is a one-point safety.
Rule 11-3-2(c):
If there is no kick, and the [conversion] Try results in what would ordinarily a safety against the defense, one point is awarded to the offensive team.
Updated, 2015 season: Since the NFL rule was that a ball is dead on a conversion try as soon as the defense possesses the ball, it made this unlikely ruling even more unlikely. By batting or propelling the ball into the end zone, without actually possessing it, this was really the only way a one-point safety could be scored. However, as of the 2015 season, the defense is allowed to possess the ball, increasing the possible outcomes to be ruled a safety.
Because in college football it is legal for the defense to possess the ball (and even score) on a conversion attempt, it has happened four times that we are aware of (video of 2004 Texas A&M vs. Texas game). Update 1/3/13: We updated the count to four occurrences after the 2013 Fiesta Bowl.
And, before you think that the defense in the NFL could get a point if the offense inexplicably retreated 98 yards into their end zone…
The defensive team cannot score on a Try.
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