Down at the One: The Complete 2025 Season, All 418 of Them

A yard is thirty-six inches. It is the shortest distance in football and the most expensive one, and almost nothing in the sport is worse at measuring it than a box score. A running back tackled at the one is credited with the yards and none of the points. A receiver who draws pass interference in the end zone moves the ball to the one-yard line and is credited with nothing at all. We went looking for every one of those moments in the 2025 regular season. There were more of them than we expected.

THE METHOD. Official play-by-play for all 272 regular season games, 49,424 plays, each tested against four definitions. STOPPED: the ball is dead at the opponent's one and the play is not a touchdown. PLACED: a defensive coverage foul spots the ball at the one. NULLIFIED: a touchdown erased by a penalty. SHORT: a play dies between the two and the five on a drive that never scores six. One clarification, because people ask: this is the offensive one-yard line only. A team pinned at its own goal line is not down at the one. It is just backed up.

THE FOUR NUMBERS. 418 players were stopped at the opponent's one without scoring, roughly one and a half per game. 50 times a defensive penalty put the ball on the one, about three a week. 60 touchdowns were wiped out by a flag. And 1,048 plays died between the two and the five on drives that never reached the end zone. That is 1,576 separate moments where a team got close enough to smell it and the scoreboard did not move.

WHO GOT THERE MOST. Christian McCaffrey was stopped at the one ten times, more than anyone. Javonte Williams did it nine times for Dallas, Kyren Williams eight for the Rams. Travis Etienne Jr. and Josh Jacobs were each stopped seven times; Jonathan Taylor, James Cook III, TreVeyon Henderson and Derrick Henry six apiece. None of these are bad players having bad seasons. They are the opposite. They are the men their teams trust with the hardest yard in football, which is precisely why they keep getting caught an inch short of the credit.

THE INVISIBLE TOUCHDOWN. Pass interference in the end zone is a spot foul: the ball goes to the one, first and goal. The receiver who drew it gets no reception, no yards and no touchdown, and the score that follows usually belongs to a running back. It happened 50 times in 2025, broken down as 39 pass interference calls, 10 defensive holdings and one illegal contact. CeeDee Lamb drew three of them, more than any other receiver. Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Amon-Ra St. Brown drew two each. On the other side, Riley Moss committed three, the most of any defender in the league. None of it appears in a fantasy box score anywhere.

THE TEAM THAT DID IT MOST. The Los Angeles Rams were stopped at the one 32 times in 2025, more than any other team, ahead of Dallas at 27 and New England at 26. They then opened the 2026 season in Melbourne by doing it again: third and goal from the two, Puka Nacua tackled at the one, then fourth and goal stuffed on a quarterback sneak and upheld on review. First and goal to zero points. We will keep this page updated every week of the 2026 season. The box score will keep missing these. We will not.