Telling time by sundial. Listening to music on the beach with a boombox. Loading up a covered wagon and hitting the Oregon Trail.
All things that stopped happening once a better idea came along.
Welcome to the conversation around safeties in the NFL.
In the NFL’s golden age, few things about the on-field product are truly problematic. But the safety is boring and not properly rewarded.
Since the league’s inception in 1920, defenses have had a select few ways to score points. They could recover a fumble and return it for a touchdown. They could intercept a pass and run it in for six points. Or, they could tackle an opponent holding the football in the end zone, resulting in a safety worth two points.
It’s time to take one of those options away from the defense, but weaponize it further for a team’s greater good.
Instead of the traditional two-point safety whenever a player is tackled, fumbles the ball out of bounds or commits a penalty in his own end zone, let’s propose this for the next NFL competition committee meetings:
Safeties are hard to come by. Last season, in 272 regular-season games, 11 teams recorded a total of 13 safeties, with the Bills and Jets each registering two. On those occasions (box scores here), the teams got their two points and received free kicks, resulting in the following outcomes: End of game (opponent took over with six seconds left)TouchdownEnd of game (opponent took over with 1:33 left)Missed field goalTurnover on downsPuntEnd of game (opponent took over with seven seconds left)TouchdownPuntPuntPuntFumbleEnd of game (safety was final play) Overall, only two of last year’s 13 safeties resulted in points on the ensuing drive. That’s nowhere near a good enough reward for stuffing an opponent’s drive short of their own goal line. More important, two games were ended by teams cowering to run out the clock. In both situations, the new rule would have made those squads play the final seconds, potentially providing a great moment. And, if the coaches had for some reason still made the same decisions, it would have meant having to avoid a 20-yard play at the proverbial gun. Furthermore, this rule change would add some serious spice. Consider the following situation. A team is winning 16–10 with three minutes remaining. It’s backed up at the 2-yard line. Normally, a safety would be problematic but not devastating, especially since the defense has been playing well all afternoon. Now run this scenario with the new rule. The game would still be 16–10 after the safety, but now the other team would need to go only 20 yards for a potentially game-winning score. If you’re inept enough to be tackled in your own end zone, that shouldn’t be a mere two points and a free kick, which could force a team to drive at least 25 to 30 yards for a field goal or perhaps 60 to 70 for a touchdown. (A mild enough punishment that some teams take it intentionally late in games!)
