Football 101: Mastering the Art of Football Scoring
Learning how scoring works in football is essential for coaches and players who are game planning. Learning how a game is scored is also important for fans who want to enhance their understanding and enjoyment of football. For a beginner, the football scoring system can seem overwhelming. However, once you get the basics down, you’ll be on your way to becoming a scoring expert.
Overview of Football Scoring
There are 5 ways to score in football: Making a touchdown, a field goal, a 2-point conversion, an extra point, or a safety. After a team scores, they’re required to kick the ball to the other team. That’s called a change of possession. Let’s examine the different ways to score.
Touchdown: A touchdown is worth 6 points and it’s the most desired outcome for the offense. No other way of scoring is worth more points. A touchdown is scored when the football crosses the plane of the goal line. The goal line is the entrance to the end zone. The scoring team must have possession of the football when it crosses the goal line. You can score a touchdown by running across the goal line into the end zone, catching a pass in the end zone, or catching a pass and then running across the goal line. The defense can score a touchdown by recovering a fumble in the end zone, running a fumbled football back for a touchdown, or by intercepting a pass and running it back for a touchdown.
Extra Point: An extra point, which is also called the point after the touchdown (PAT), is the point awarded after a team scores a touchdown. A touchdown with a successful extra point is worth 7 points. After the team scores a touchdown, it can kick for the extra point. College, high school, and NFL teams have field goal kickers. Their job is to kick the ball through the uprights, which are the two bars that run up the goal post. In the NFL, the uprights are 18’6”. If the ball travels through the uprights, the team is awarded the extra point. In the NFL, the extra point or the point after the TD is kicked from 33 yards. In college and high school, the distance is only 20 yards.
Field Goal: When the offense drives close to the goal line, but the defense stops them, the team can try a field goal. A successful field goal, which is worth 3 points, is when the ball successfully travels through the end zone uprights. A kicker can attempt a field goal from anywhere on the football field, but they’re limited by their range. It’s possible for some NFL kickers to make field goals from 60 yards out. For a field goal that long, the team would have to be on the 43-yard line. The attempt is always from 7 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. That gives the kicker time to take a few steps into the football. The goal posts are at the back of the end zone, which is 10 yards deep.
Safety: Making a safety is the most unusual way to score in football. That’s because a safety is scored by the defense, not the offense. Most safeties occur when the offensive player who has the football is tackled in their end zone. A team is awarded 2 points for a safety.
2-Point Conversion: Instead of kicking an extra point after a TD, teams can try to score 2 points. A 2-point conversion plus a touchdown is worth 8points. A TD with an extra point is worth 7 points. To make a 2-point conversion, teams must score by crossing the goal line either via the pass or run in one play. In the NFL, a team starts at the 2-yard line to try for 2. In college and high school, teams start from the 3. Trying for a 2-point conversion is riskier than going for the PAT. Coaches sometimes go for the 2-point conversion when they trail by 8 points late in the game or if they want to increase their lead by an extra point. For instance, if they’re 5 points ahead after a TD, it’s often better to try for a 2-point conversion for a 7-point lead instead of a PAT for a 6-point lead. Another reason to try for a 2-point conversion is if you don’t have a good kicker. Most NFL and college teams have quality kickers. In high school, some teams go for a 2-point conversion every time because their kicker is unreliable.
FAQs on Football Scoring
Below are a few facts about overtime scoring and scoring trends in the NFL.
How does scoring work in overtime in the NFL?
A game goes into overtime when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The scoring doesn’t change but the rules for OT are different. In the NFL and college, there is a coin toss at midfield to see who gets possession. In the NFL, if a team gets possession first and scores a TD, the game ends with the scoring team declared the winner. If the team scores a field goal on the first possession, the other team can either match the field goal or win with a TD. If no team scores in overtime, the game ends in a tie. In the playoffs, both teams have an offensive possession even if there is a TD scored on the first possession.
How does scoring work in overtime in college and high school?
Overtime in college and high school is called sudden death. The ball is placed at the 25-yard line. Each team gets a possession and has a chance to score. If the teams match scores, the game keeps going until one team doesn’t score. In the 2nd overtime, if a team scores a TD, they are required to go for a 2-point conversion.
Do teams in the NFL score more on TDs or field goals?
Teams score more touchdowns in the NFL, though that number is declining. Through the first 10 weeks of the 2023 season, teams combined to average 4.69 touchdowns per game. That’s a little over 2 touchdowns per team. One team, the Jets, scored more than half their points on field goals. An NFL game has roughly 4 field goals per game, which is about 2 per team.
Scoring strategy in football constantly evolves. Because kickers have improved, teams in college and the NFL attempt field goals more than ever. The introduction of the 2-point conversion into the NFL in 1994 made the game more exciting because teams could engineer a last-minute drive to win or tie the game from 8 points down instead of just 7. Scoring and how it figures into the overall strategy of games for coaches and players is always changing. Keeping up with the changes helps teams stay competitive and helps fans stay engaged.