Here is possibly the biggest football misconception in existence: touchdowns are worth 7 points.
In a true or false test, that would be false. Because it is.
Touchdowns are worth 6 points!
Here’s the deal: when a touchdown is scored, the team that scored the touchdown gets another play to tack more points on to the touchdown. Most choose to kick an extra point, a kicking play kicked from the 2-yard line. Almost always, it’s a sure bet because a kick at the distance is a chip shot for an NFL kicker. Thus, most teams earn 7 points from most touchdowns.
But there is another option for scoring after touchdowns. The scoring team can opt to try a 2-point conversion. Instead of kicking an extra point from the 2-yard line, they can try to get the football into the end zone (by running or passing – just like a touchdown) from the 2-yard line. If they do, they earn 2 points, and in that case, the entire touchdown transaction would be worth 8 points.
But a touchdown in and of itself? That’s always worth 6 points.
How is a touchdown scored in the first place? Good question!
A touchdown is scored when one team gets the football into the other team’s end zone. If the football is entering the end zone by a running player, the football has to cross the goal line and be inside of the pylons to count as a touchdown.
(Goal Line? Pylon? Say what? Check out this post.)
If the football is being caught in the end zone by a receiver, the receiver must have two feet down in-bounds and have full control of the ball for it to count as a touchdown.
There are other ways to score, but the touchdown is the king of them all.