13 games: (Super Bowl) Feb. 6, (2 Conference) Jan. 26, (4 Divisional) Jan. 18/19, (6 Wild Card) Jan. 11/12/13, 2025

444566 +2/232\\ 

Postseason (3 weeks so far): 67 touchdowns, 4 ATDs

 

BUF@KC: Pylon fly-by

AFC Championship. Kansas City’s Xavier Worthy zooms through a small wedge of the end zone’s airspace before he lands about a yard out of bounds. He makes no contact with the end zone before that occurs.

As always, the break-the-plane rule works in the ball carrier’s favor, giving Worthy the ability to benefit from, in essence, an extra-wide end zone. The rule allows Worthy to bypass the inconvenience of actually contacting the designated scoring area.

All he is required to do is wave the ball in the end zone’s ether and, voilà, he can claim six points. If he had enough momentum, he could have landed two yards, three yards, five yards wide of the end zone. It matters not. As long as he nicked the end zone’s airspace with the ball, he’s got a touchdown.

That’s great for Worthy, but a lousy deal for Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin, whose pursuit forced Worthy to run wide — so wide that he missed contacting the end zone. As we have mentioned before, granting six points for an end zone wave-over is akin to taking a dart, waving it at a dartboard, and claiming credit for a bullseye. Really? Shouldn’t a player be required to contact the designated scoring area to claim points? We think so. Hocus Bogus Rating: 4.5

Video and image: CBS Sports

LAR@PHI: Knee down

Divisional Round. Using the existing break-the-plane rule, yes, this catch by the Rams’ Tyler Higbee qualifies as a touchdown. The ball in Higbee’s possession has crossed through the Great Invisible Plane.

If the rule we endorse was in force, the Eagles could have thrown the challenge flag and won a reversal, since Higbee’s knee touched in front of the goal line. To earn a touchdown, we believe a player must be IN the end zone (and the goal line is part of the end zone) when he is ruled down by contact.

Because viewers are so familiar with seeing a call such as this rule a touchdown, our preferred ruling seems odd. We understand. The break-the-plane rule has been in play for decades. Yet we believe that earning six points, the highest payout in football, demands a higher standard of execution. If you expect six points, we expect ball carriers to be IN the end zone, not just in its airspace. Hocus Bogus Rating: 1.5

Video and image: NBC Sports

GB@PHI: A leaner

Wild Card Round. In horseshoes, if a player pitches a shoe and it winds up leaning against the stake, does the pitcher get credit for a ringer? You could potentially argue: The shoe is right up in the stake’s airspace; c’mon, it’s so close.

So, is it a ringer? No, of course not. That’s ridiculous. The shoe is not enclosing the stake. How can anyone possibly claim that it’s a ringer?

Switch to football. Here Green Bay’s Josh Jacobs leans into the end zone’s airspace but never touches the end zone, a sprawling 1.3 acres of paydirt. Should you give him a touchdown for his effort? C’mon, he’s so close.

But he hasn’t completed the task. He has not made contact with the designated scoring area. The defense has held, just like it did on the preceding play, when it stopped Jacobs just short of the end zone.

Strangely, football’s break-the-plane rule interpretation says a leaner, a ball carrier’s fleeting moment within an end zone’s airspace, is good enough for six points—more than a ringer; a real humdinger. We know that is the existing rule. But to us, such a judgment call is ridiculous. Rating: 4

Video and image: Fox Sports

DEN@BUF: Shortfall

Wild Card Round. After decades of repeatedly witnessing break-the-plane touchdowns, most fans would agree that this end zone lurch by Buffalo’s James Cook qualifies as a touchdown. It sure looks like one at first glance.

Using replay, we see Cook’s knees are down in front of the goal line while the ball is in his hands, hovering in the end zone’s airspace.

We understand; most people would not object to this touchdown call. If, however, our preferred rule was in place — requiring a ball carrier’s first down contact to occur with some body part touching the end zone and the ball breaking the plane — an opposing coach could toss his red challenge flag and likely get this call overturned. If our rule was enacted, we believe coaches, players and fans would soon adjust to the revised interpretation. Rating: 1.5

Video and image: CBS Sports