Safety (gridiron football score)

Although this has never occurred, it is the only possible way a team could finish with a single point in an American football game.

Teams have utilized elective safeties to gain field position for a punt when pinned deep in their own territory[12][13] and, when ahead near the end of a game, to run down the clock so as to deny the other team a chance to force a turnover or return a punt.

[18][19] In the NFL, starting with the 2023 season, a defense can decline a safety in favor of accepting a penalty committed in the end zone by the offense.

[20] An example where a defense may choose to do this could be an illegal kick committed in the end zone by the offense (such as may occur following a bad snap on an attempted punt) on fourth down; rather than allowing the play to result in a safety, the defense could accept the penalty, which for an illegal kick is 10 yards (or no more than half the distance to the goal line) from the prior spot of the ball and a loss of down.

On a failed point-after-touchdown kick, an Indiana player illegally batted the ball in the end zone (a spot foul defensive penalty).

[29] In both games, the point-after-touchdown kick was blocked and recovered by the defense, which then fumbled or threw the ball back into its own end zone.

[23][22] This scoring play has never occurred; to accomplish this, the team attempting the try must somehow be forced back to its own end zone.

While such a conversion safety has never been scored by the defense, it is the only possible way under current rules in which a team could finish with a single point in an American football game.