Definition of a football safety

Answer 1

A safety occurs when a team which had possesion of the football outside its endzone during a play is tacked in its own endzone. If a punt or kickoff is touched outside the endzone, rolls into the endzone and then downed by the receiving team in the endzone there is no safety, because the ball was not posessed outside the endzone. The rule is often misunderstood - in an NFL regular season game in the '90s, the Giants were awarded a safety when the ball was touched outside the endzone by the receiving team and then downed by the receiving team after the ball rolled into the endzone. The next day the NFL announced that there was no safety. The college rule is the same - possession outside the endzone, and not a mere touching is, is necessary in order for there to be a safety