JAX@DEN: Down on contact

Denver’s RJ Harvey is pushed from behind by Jacksonville CB Jarrian Jones (22). Harvey’s right knee hits at the 1, his left hand pushes on the pylon (which is 100 percent out of bounds), and the ball, in his right arm, is at least a foot off the ground.

At this moment, Harvey has made zero contact with the end zone. He should be, in our view, ruled down at the 1. But he is awarded a gift of six points, thanks to the overly accommodative break-the-plane rule.

If a ball carrier cannot make clean contact with the end zone without first going down short of the goal line, we argue that he should not be granted a touchdown. We could be talked out of this viewpoint. Since it seems clear that Harvey had what we sometimes call “end zone momentum” and was not trying to gain a touchdown merely by a technicality, we could potentially live with this being ruled a score. For now, we say no TD. Hocus Bogus Rating: 3.5

NE@BAL: Zay hey! Wide right

Baltimore’s Zay Flowers gets credit for six points even though his first contact with the end zone, his right foot, is out of bounds. In essence, the break-the-plane rule makes the end zone extra-wide for ball carriers. Unlike receivers, who must dagger both feet in bounds with pinpoint accuracy just to get credit for a catch, runners such as Flowers can fly as wide as they want once they whoosh past the goal line. Seems like an unfair advantage.  Rating: 3.5

PHI@WAS: A gift

Washington’s Jacory Croskey-Merritt manages to momentarily wave the ball above the goal line as he attempts to gash Philadelphia’s D-line. Yet he does not succeed and gets bent backwards, never reaching the end zone.

Isn’t that what touchdowns are intended to reward — a ball carrier who actually contacts the end zone rather than simply waving the ball in its ether? Rating: 3

BUF@CLE: Another gift

The Browns can use every break they can get, so we would like to just very quietly mention that on this play Harold Fannin was stopped short of the end zone and only managed to let the ball hover over the goal line for a split second before getting pushed backwards. Yet in a break-the-plane world, that is good enough. Not very convincing, but good enough. Rating: 3