Ravens nearly gave up the first one-point safety in NFL history
So much happened in Sunday night's thrilling Ravens-Bills game that little attention has been paid to how close the Ravens came to making NFL history - and not in a good way.
A blunder by Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton on a Bills two-point conversion attempt nearly resulted in the first one-point safety in NFL history.
A one-point safety is awarded when a play that would ordinarily be a two-point safety is scored on any conversion attempt, either an extra point kick or two-point conversion. For example, if a defensive player intercepts a pass in the end zone on a two-point conversion, runs out of the end zone, then backtracks and runs back into the end zone and gets tackled, that would be a safety. Because it's on a conversion, it would give the offense one point instead of two.
On Sunday in Buffalo, Hamilton intercepted a Josh Allen two-point conversion pass in the end zone, ran out of the end zone and then pitched the ball to Kyle Van Noy back in the end zone. Van Noy ran out of the end zone and kneeled down, but if the Bills had tackled Van Noy in the end zone, it would have been a one-point safety, and Buffalo would have scored one point.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh was not happy with Hamilton.
"I told him that I questioned whether he actually graduated Notre Dame or not," Harbaugh said. "I thought that was one of the most foolish things I've ever seen. He agreed and it should never happen again."
Harbaugh wasn't happy, but for fans of football history, a one-point safety would have been one more exciting element to Sunday's night's thriller.