A safety in American football is a scoring play that results in two points being awarded to the defensive team). It can occur in several ways, including:

• The ball carrier is tackled or forced out of bounds in their own end zone.
• The ball becomes dead in the end zone, with the exception of an incomplete forward pass, and the defending team is responsible for it being there.
• The offense commits a foul in their own end zone).

Once a safety is awarded to the defense, they will be given two points). Safeties are rare in football but can happen if the offense makes a mistake with their blocking schemes or football. They often occur when the offense is backed up to its own territory. If a safety occurs, the opposing team is forced to kick the ball to the team who scored the safety in a different fashion than usual. In rare cases, teams will purposely take a safety for strategic advantage.