Atouchdown (abbreviated asTD[1]) is a scoring play ingridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whetherrunning,passing, returning akickoff orpunt, or recovering aturnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing thefootball into the opponent'send zone. More specifically, a touchdown is when a player is in possession of the ball, any part of the ball is in the end zone they are attacking, and the player is notdown.
Because of the speed at which football happens, it is often hard for anofficial to make the correct call based on their vantage point alone. Most professional football leagues, such as theNational Football League (NFL) and theCanadian Football League (CFL), as well as some college leagues, such as theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), allow certain types of plays to be reviewed. Among these plays are touchdowns, as well as all other scoring plays, dangerous or unsportsmanlike conduct by players or staff, out-of-bounds calls, the place on the field where the official spots the ball after a play, and turnovers. Coaches can also challenge calls, provided they are made during a play eligible to be reviewed; the only exception is during periods of the game where coaches' challenges are restricted, such as the last two minutes of each half. The NFL and CFL review all scoring plays and turnovers regardless of whether the call was questionable, and therefore do not allow coaches to challenge those plays, either. The NCAA allowsDivision I FBS teams to review plays throughout the regular season and postseason, whileDivision I FCS teams can only use it during the playoffs,Division II teams only during the quarterfinals, semifinals, andchampionship game, andDivision III teams only during the semifinals andchampionship game.[2]
InAmerican football andCanadian football, a touchdown is worth six points and is followed by anextra point ortwo-point conversion attempt.
To score a touchdown, one team must take thefootball into the opposing team'send zone. In all gridiron codes, the touchdown is scored the instant the ball touches or "breaks" theplane of the front of the goal line (that is, if any part of the ball is in the space on, above, or across the goal line) while in the possession of a player whose team is trying to score in that end zone. This particular requirement of the touchdown differs from other sports in which points are scored by moving a ball or equivalent object into a goal where the whole of the relevant object must cross the whole of the goal line for a score to be awarded. The play is dead and the touchdown scored the moment the ball touches plane in possession of a player, or the moment the ball comes into possession of an offensive player in the end zone (having established possession by controlling the ball and having one or both feet depending on the rules of the league or another part of the body, excluding the hands, touch the ground). The slightest part of the ball touching or being directly over the goal line is sufficient for a touchdown to score. However, only the ball counts, not a player's helmet, foot, or any other part of the body. Touching one of the pylons at either end of the goal line with the ball constitutes "breaking the plane" as well.
Touchdowns are usually scored by the offense byrunning orpassing the ball. The former is called arushing touchdown, and in the latter, the quarterback throws atouchdown pass orpassing touchdown to the receiver, who either catches the ball in the field of play and advances it into the end zone, or catches it while already being within the boundaries of the end zone; the result is atouchdown reception ortouchdown catch. However, the defense can also score a touchdown if they have recovered afumble or made aninterception and return it to the opposing end zone.Special teams can score a touchdown on akickoff orpunt return, or on a return after a missed or blockedfield goal attempt or blockedpunt. In short, any play in which a player legally carries any part of the ball over or across the opponent's goal line scores a touchdown, as is any play in which a player legally gains possession of the ball while it is on or across his opponent's goal line and both the player and ball are legally in-bounds - beyond this, the manner in which he gained possession is inconsequential. In theNFL, a touchdown may be awarded by the referee as a penalty for a "palpably unfair act", such as a player coming off the bench during a play and tackling a runner who would otherwise have scored.[3]
A touchdown is worth six points. The scoring team is also awarded the opportunity for anextra point or atwo-point conversion.[4] Afterwards, the team that scored the touchdownkicks off to the opposing team, if there is any time left in the half. In most codes, a conversion is not attempted if the touchdown ended the game and the conversion cannot affect the outcome.
The officials' hand signal for a touchdown is both arms extended vertically above the head, with palms facing inward—the same signal used for afield goal or conversion.[5]
Unlike atry scored inrugby, and contrary to the event's name, the ball does not need to touch the ground when the player and the ball are inside the end zone. The termtouchdown is a holdover from gridiron's early days when the ballwas required to be touched to the ground as in rugby, as rugby and gridiron were still extremely similar sports at this point. This rule was changed to the modern-day iteration in 1889.
When the first uniform rules for American football were enacted by the newly formed Intercollegiate Football Association following the 1876 Rugby season, a touchdown required touching the ball to the ground past the goal line, and counted for1⁄4 of a kicked goal (except in the case of a tie) and allowed the offense the chance to kick for goal by placekick or dropkick from a spot along a lineperpendicular to the goal line and passing through the point where the ball was touched down, or through a process known as a "punt-out", where the attacking team would kick the ball from the point where it was touched down to a teammate. If the teammate couldfair catch the ball, he could follow with a try for goal from the spot of the catch, or resume play as normal (in an attempt to touch down the ball in a spot more advantageous for kicking). The governing rule at the time read: "A match shall be decided by a majority of touchdowns. A goal shall be equal to four touchdowns; but in case of a tie a goal kicked from a touchdown shall take precedence over four touchdowns."[6]
The ability to score a touchdown on the point-after attempt (two-point conversion) was added to NCAA football in 1958 and also used in theAmerican Football League during its ten-year run from 1960 to 1969. It was subsequently adopted by high school football in 1969, theCFL in 1975, and the NFL in 1994.[6][13] The short-livedWorld Football League, a professional American football league that operated in 1974 and 1975, gave touchdowns a seven-point value.
1898—A touchdown was changed from four points to five.