American football score combinations: is that score possible?

Which American football scores are possible?

Under NFL rules every total from 2 points up can happen. A safety is worth 2 and a field goal 3, and 2s and 3s on their own make every whole number from 2 upwards: 2, 3, 2 + 2, 3 + 2, 3 + 3, and so on. Touchdowns (6, plus a try for 1 or 2 more) only add more ways to get there.

The one awkward number is 1. Nothing is worth 1 point on its own: the kicked extra point is always the try after a touchdown, so a team that kicks one already has at least 7. In the NFL the only route to a lone 1 is a one-point safety scored by the defense during the other team's try, explained under edge cases below. So in practice, 1 is the only score an NFL team never ends up with.

American football point values

How the combinations are counted

• A touchdown and its try count as one score, the way commentators count a "one-score game". So one touchdown is worth 6 (no points on the try), 7 (extra point) or 8 (two-point conversion).
• Each touchdown gets at most one try, so a team can never have more extra points and two-point conversions than touchdowns. A touchdown that ends a game can go without a try, which changes nothing here: it still counts 6.
• Two-point plays by the defense are listed as safeties. A defensive two-point return on the other team's try is worth the same 2, so any safety in a combination could be one of those instead.
• Any field goal could be a fair-catch kick, a free kick at goal after a fair catch that counts as a field goal (3 points; NFL and high school, not college).
• Order: fewest scores first, then the everyday plays (kicked extra points and field goals) ahead of two-point conversions, touchdowns with no points on the try, and safeties.

Fewest scores for every total from 1 to 40

The quickest way to reach each total under NFL rules. Where two combinations need the same number of scores, the one with the more common plays is shown; with JavaScript on, the checker above lists the alternatives.

Edge cases

• Exactly 1 point. A safety that happens during a try is worth 1 point, not 2. When the defense scores it, the team that just scored a touchdown has been driven all the way back and downed in its own end zone during its own try, for example after a turnover, a fumble on the return and a recovery by the team attempting the try. The NFL and college rules allow it, but no NFL or major college team is known to have scored one, and in the NFL it is the only way to finish on 1.
• The other one-point safety. If the defense takes the ball during a try and is then downed in its own end zone, the team attempting the try gets the 1 point. That is still a touchdown plus 1, so it makes 7 like an extra point and changes nothing in the tables.
• Final scores with a 1 in them. The team on 1 got it during the other team's try, so under NFL rules the lowest possible final is 6-1, and 7-1 can never happen (the FAQ below explains why).
• Defensive two-point returns. Since 2015 the NFL lets the defense score 2 by returning a blocked kick, interception or fumble into the other end zone during a try, as college already did. It adds no new totals, because a safety is also worth 2.

Flag football: 1, 3 and 5 are impossible in regulation

NFL FLAG has no kicking at all, so there are no field goals, and nothing in its scoring rules is worth 1 or 3 on its own. The smallest scores are a safety (2) and a touchdown (6); the 1-point try from the 5-yard line only ever follows a touchdown, and an interception returned on a try scores 2 for the defense. That leaves 1, 3 and 5 as the totals a flag team can never reach in regulation. 2 and 4 need safeties (or returned tries), and every total from 6 up is possible. The exception is overtime: some leagues break a tie with alternating tries from the 5 or the 10, and there a lone 1-point try can decide the game, so a final such as 1-0, 3-2 or 5-4 can happen.

With JavaScript on, the checker above covers every flag total up to 100. Other flag leagues can set their own try distances and values, so check your league's rules. See flag football scoring for the full rules.

College and high school

College and high school tries are both snapped from the 3-yard line, but the points are the same as in the NFL. College also has the defensive two-point return and the one-point safety, so in regulation every total works out as in the tables. College overtime adds one twist: from the third overtime, each team gets a single two-point play with no touchdown needed. Those plays are tries, so a safety on one is worth 1, and a lone 1 (even a 1-0 final) is possible there in theory.

High school is different. The defense cannot score on a try: the try ends as soon as the defense gains possession. That rules out the defensive two-point return and both kinds of one-point safety, so in high school a team can never finish on exactly 1 point; every total from 2 up works out as in the tables. For when to kick and when to go for two, see the two-point conversion.