WAS@PHI: A touchdown by arm’s length

Plays such as this must give defensive coordinators restless nights. It’s second-and-goal from inside the 1. Your line stuffs a rush up the middle, and a couple of key players — tackle Fletcher Cox (91) and safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson (23) — don’t ease up and keep the runner, Washington’s Brian Robinson, from finding a way into the end zone. That’s solid work.

But Robinson, who can’t break free, manages to briefly stretch one arm, and the ball, into the a few inches of the end zone’s airspace, and all that defensive effort becomes a handful of wind. Foiled again by the dreaded break-the-plane rule.

We imagine more than a few fans watching the play unfold on their television screens had to wonder out loud, “Wait. He didn’t go anywhere. How is that a touchdown?” Even with the benefit of second looks and slo-mo scrutiny, we often wonder the same thing. For fans drawn to the game for its blend of speed, strength and athleticism, airspace TDs are such a gyp. Hocus Bogus rating: 4.5

AZ@LAC: A no-touch end zone fly-over

It’s a touchdown of the break-the-plane variety all right, and highlight-reel hot stuff to boot. Arizona’s James Conner lunges at the 2, catches a sliver of end zone airspace, flattens a pylon and finally crashes out of bounds. An exciting-to-see effort. We just would not call it a score. Instead, we’d place the ball inside the 1.

We dig the effort, no question, just not the ruling. Our touchdown rule requires a ball carrier’s first contact beyond the goal line to occur in the end zone. None of this too-often fishy break-the-plane stuff.  Rating: 4

CLE@MIA: Almost a carbon copy

This play closely mimics the outcome of the James Conner touchdown described above. Here Miami’s Alex Ingold also lunges for the goal line, knocks down a pylon and, also like Conner, lands out of bounds.

These plays are fun to watch, but it’s apparent ball carriers throughout the league have grown accustomed to targeting the pylon, and not the end zone, when they make their dramatic dives.

That tactic gives them a few extra inches, or even feet, to elude contact with incoming defenders. And, since existing rules grant a score if a ball carrier touches any part of a pylon — even its outside edge, which is positioned four inches out of bounds — why not take advantage of that extra-wide scoring area?

That doesn’t seem right. Our rule will fix that. Rating: 3.5

NYG@MIN: Another end zone step-over

Airspace touchdowns make life convenient for ball carriers —  too convenient, in our estimation. Like so many others, here the Giants’ Lawrence Cager runs wide to sidestep defenders, and recognizes he has no need to actually touch the end zone in order to score, since the break-the-plane rule absolves him of that duty. 

So Cager cuts the corner at pylon, slipping through the end zone’s touchdown-generating troposphere as he moves along, and a few perceptive fans are left to ponder, “I wonder how he gets away with that?” We wonder, too. Rating: 3

DAL@GB: Is that what we think we see?

OK, here’s another example of a runner cutting the end zone’s corner and benefiting from an extra-wide scoring area available due to the break-the-rule/airspace touchdown allowance.

Only here Jones finishes with a reverse leap/groin grab, a replication of the mature-audiences-only move Marshawn Lynch made to punctuate his famed Beast Quake run in 2014.

We still question the validity of this and all airspace touchdowns. At least in calling this one out, the play offered some extra entertainment value. Rating: 3

IND@LV: Laying down on the job

Flopping. It became such an issue in pro basketball that the NBA took steps to eliminate it. Our rule would do the same for quarterback sneaks that are nothing more than quarterback flops.

Here the Colts’ Matt Ryan chugs a few steps toward the line and then lays down atop the mosh pit below him, never touching the end zone. Since he is credited for “breaking the plane,” he gets credited with a rushing touchdown, no different statistically than a 90-yard breakaway, an 80-yard bomb or a Beast Quake. That strikes us as both unattractive and unjust.

Our proposed rule requires a high standard for earning a touchdown: Make full inbounds contact with the end zone or line up for another play. We believe that should eliminate dismal-looking quarterback flops in the future. That will be a joyous day. Rating: 3