For the love of logic, put the touch back in touchdown
It’s a contact sport. Yet players can score without contacting the end zone. Why is that?
Latest News: The UFL has ATDs, too. (See below.)
All of these plays were ruled touchdowns. Yet never did the ball or ball carrier touch the end zone. Since 2020, fans have witnessed this more than 350 times.
Clockwise from top left: NBC Sports, Fox Sports, CBS Sports. Fox Sports
Airspace touchdowns 1) occur too often (almost 1 in every 4 games), 2) are farcical to watch, and 3) diminish the game we love. Fans deserve better.
Fix the Rule Latest News
ATDs and the UFL
During its second season the United Football League has produced a handful of airspace touchdowns, none stranger than the Week 2 oddity showcased in our featured video. Jacob Saylors of the St. Louis Battlehawks never makes contact with the end zone, yet because he reaches the ball above the goal line for a blink of time just as he begins to fumble the ball away, he is credited with six points. By rule, this is indeed a touchdown, but what a goofy rule. Who in their right mind thinks a momentary wave-over is worth six points.
What if, we ask, baseball adopted the break-the-plane rule? Then the early-season catch by Philadelphia’s Emundo Sosa (see video) would be nullified. The ball broke the plane of the fence, right? By break-the-plane logic, that’s a home run.
How silly is that idea?
People looking for our compilation clip of airspace touchdowns in Super Bowl history will find it on our Film Room page and on our YouTube channel.
The 2024 NFL season produced 63 airspace touchdowns, the lowest count during this site’s five years of tracking ATDs. That’s still 63 more than we’d care to see.
UFL video: Fox Sports
What if break-the-plane logic was applied to other games?
Hole in one
The ball is clearly breaking the plane of the cup, so it’s in. Put me down for an ace.
Home run
Who cares if the ball is in the glove? It broke the fence’s plane on the fly.
Bucket
Your corner three rimmed out? Easy. It dipped below the rim, so it’s good.
Cornhole
That bag is breaking the plane of the hole. We’ll take three points.
Ringer
Look, the shoe is breaking the plane of the stake. Three points for me.
Inside Fix the Rule
In brief
What we’re up to, in as few words as we can manage.
Concept
Learn about the Super Bowl touchdown that lit our inquisitive fuse.
New rule
Few rules are perfect, but we say our idea is better than the existing rule.
Pylons
What exactly are these orange foam antennae intended to do?
Ratings
Not all ATDs are equal. The ugliest of them earn The Full McEnroe.