American football scoring rules, explained.

How officials confirm a score

1. Identify the scoring possibility: touchdown, field goal, try, safety, or no-score result such as a touchback.
2. Confirm the ball was live and the scoring action was legal under the rulebook in use.
3. For touchdowns, decide whether the ball was in player possession on, above, or beyond the opponent's goal line, or whether a player legally gained possession in the end zone.
4. For kicks, judge whether the kick met the rulebook's requirements and whether the entire ball passed through the goal above the crossbar and between the uprights.
5. For safeties and touchbacks, decide which team supplied the force that put the ball behind the goal line and how the ball became dead.
6. Apply any live-ball or dead-ball fouls that can cancel the score, repeat the try, move the next kick, or create a safety.

The basic point system

• Touchdown: 6 points.
• Try kick or extra point: usually 1 point after a touchdown when the kick is successful.
• Two-point try: usually 2 points after a touchdown when the team scores by running or passing the ball into the end zone.
• Field goal: 3 points on a legal kick through the goal.
• Safety: 2 points when a team is responsible for the ball becoming dead behind its own goal line, or commits certain fouls in its own end zone.
• Try safety: 1 point in rulebooks that recognize a safety during a try.

Canadian football, some developmental leagues, and some flag formats use different scoring or conversion rules, so do not assume every gridiron code uses the same restart or try procedure.

When crossing the goal line scores

A touchdown is normally scored when a player legally possesses the ball and the ball reaches the opponent's goal line plane. The whole player does not need to be in the end zone. The important object is the ball, and only a small part of the ball has to be on, above, or beyond the goal line while the player is in legal possession.

A receiver in the end zone must still complete a legal catch under the relevant rulebook. If the ball is bobbled, trapped, or lost before possession is complete, officials can rule incomplete even if the ball crossed the goal line. Related possession details are covered in the catch rules page.

Extra points and two-point conversions

After a touchdown, the scoring team usually gets one untimed try. A kicked try is commonly called an extra point or PAT and is worth 1 point if successful. A run or pass try is commonly called a two-point conversion and is worth 2 points if the ball is legally carried into, caught in, or otherwise possessed in the end zone.

The try spot varies. In the NFL, the kick try is snapped from farther back than a two-point try; college, high school, youth, and flag rules can use different spots. In NFL and NCAA rules, the defense can score 2 points by gaining possession during a try and returning the ball to the opposite end zone. In many high school rules, the try ends when the defense gains possession, so the same loose-ball play can have a different result by code.

What makes a kick worth three points

A field goal is worth 3 points when a legal place kick or drop kick passes through the goal. The entire ball must go above the crossbar and between the uprights, or between the outside edges of the uprights if the ball is higher than the posts. A kick that hits the upright or crossbar and still passes through is good; a kick that does not pass through is no good.

In NFL rules, a field goal can also follow a fair catch as a fair-catch kick, but that is rare. A punt is not a field goal attempt in ordinary American football, and a kick that is blocked, short, wide, or legally returned produces no points unless another scoring play follows.

Why some defensive scores are two points

A safety is worth 2 points for the opponent when a team causes the ball to become dead in its own end zone, or when an offensive foul is enforced from behind that team's own goal line. Common examples include a ball carrier being tackled in their own end zone, intentional grounding from the end zone, or a fumble that the offense supplied the force for and that becomes dead behind its own goal line.

The hardest safety calls are really force and possession calls. If a defender intercepts a pass in the field of play and momentum carries them into their own end zone, many rulebooks use a momentum exception rather than a safety. If the opponent supplied the force that put the ball in the end zone and the ball becomes dead there, the result is often a touchback instead.

Touchbacks, dead balls, and missed chances

Not every ball in the end zone is a score. A touchback is a no-score result that usually gives the defending team possession after the opponent supplied the force that put the ball into or behind the end zone. Kickoffs, punts, interceptions, fumbles, and missed field goals can all create end-zone rulings that are not touchdowns or safeties.

An incomplete pass in the end zone is also not a safety or a touchdown. Officials first decide whether the pass was caught, incomplete, intercepted, or affected by a foul. Only after that do the scoring and possession rules decide the result.

How fouls can change a score

A foul can wipe out a touchdown or field goal if it is committed by the scoring team and the enforcement requires cancelling the play. Other fouls may allow the score to stand and move the try, the kickoff, or the next snap. Fouls during a try have their own enforcement rules and can lead to a retry, an unsuccessful try, an enforced distance penalty, or a rare one-point safety.

Dead-ball personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct after a score usually do not erase the score by themselves, but they can affect the try or the next free kick. The exact enforcement depends on when the foul happened and which team committed it.

How scoring plays are reviewed

Replay systems vary, but scoring reviews usually focus on visible, objective facts: whether the ball crossed the plane, whether the runner was down first, whether a catch was completed, whether a foot or body part was out of bounds, whether the kick passed inside the uprights, and whether the ball was loose before the goal line.

The on-field call can matter because replay commonly needs clear evidence to change it. Officials may also need to reset the clock, spot the ball, or apply penalties after the scoring decision is confirmed.

Misunderstandings to avoid

• "The player broke the plane": the ball must break the plane while legally possessed. A helmet, foot, or shoulder in the end zone is not enough.
• "The ball has to touch the ground": modern American football touchdowns do not require grounding the ball.
• "A safety is just a defensive touchdown": a safety is a separate 2-point scoring play, not a touchdown.
• "A missed field goal is always dead": depending on the rulebook and where the kick lands or is touched, a missed kick can be returnable or can create a touchback or special spot.
• "Every touchdown must be followed by a try": many rulebooks allow or require the try to be skipped when it cannot affect the final result, especially at the end of a game.
• "The NFL rule is the universal rule": high school, NCAA, youth, flag, and Canadian rules can differ on try spots, defensive returns, touchbacks, and restarts.

Source material

• NFL Rulebook: Rule 11, Scoring
• NFL Official Playing Rules PDF
• NCAA Football Rules of the Game
• NFHS Football Rules Changes