Every safety … ever

The bookkeeping for most scoring plays is clear, simple, and consistent: the type of play, the scoring player, the passer (if applicable), and the yardage. Safeties are an exception; at best, the box score line will show the tackler and the player safetied; at worst, they’ll read something like “Safety, Player ran out of end zone.”¹ Yes, I know. Imagine you weren’t familiar with turn-of-the-century punters.

The sortable, filterable table below provides consistent details on each and every safety that has happened in a regular or postseason NFL² Unlike Pro Football Reference, the NFL does not recognize statistics from the 1946-49 AAFC, so the seventeen AAFC safeties are not included here. game, and can be used to answer questions like what player has been safetied the most (Jeff George, 9); which safety lost the most yardage (Jim Marshall’s wrong-way fumble return, 66); or which safeties were intentional (just search for “intentional safety” under Play Type).

A few notes:

• Links boxscore video
• Teams list the team scoring the safety first.
• Time is the time remaining in the quarter after the safety.
• Score is the score after the safety, with the scoring team listed first.
• Play Type will indicate the intent of the play and the method of scoring. A run or sack with nothing else listed indicates a tackle in the end zone.
• Yds is the yards lost from line of scrimmage or from the change of possession (if applicable).
• Scorer is the player officially credited with the safety (the NFL’s official statistics go back to 1932). Safeties on plays like split sacks and fumbles out of bounds are typically not credited to any individual player, but scoring has not been consistent from play to play.
• Against is the player who created the safety, either by being tackled in the end zone, fumbling out of the end zone, or committing a penalty in the end zone.