KC@LAC: Can’t breach (the EZ)? Just reach

Here’s some excellent defensive line play by Kansas City linebackers Nick Bolton (32) and Leo Chenal (54) (though Bolton got flagged for an inadvertent facemask grab) as they prevented the Chargers’ hard-driving Austin Ekeler from reaching the end zone.

Yet that’s not good enough for the prevailing break-the-plane rule. Because Ekeler was able to briefly wave the ball in the end zone’s airspace, he gets six points. Thus we get to witness another unattractive, head-shaking, defense-negating TD courtesy of the break-the-plane rule. Hocus Bogus rating: 4.5

CIN@PIT: He’s a high-flier, and he’s OOB

On average, our data shows one airspace touchdown occurs in every four to five games. Imagine our surprise when we came across a single game that included four ATDs — two each by Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and two each by two players, the Bengals’ Samaje Perine and the Steelers’ Najee Harris.

This one, early in the second quarter, abounds with visual drama but remains a wasteland of logic. On a sweep left from the 19, Harris is cut off from the end zone by Bengals’ safety Jessie Bates (30). Harris decides his only choice to hurdle Bates, who clips Harris’s legs as he slides under him.

Harris, sky high at this point, involuntarily rotates until his right leg spikes the left pylon as his foot comes down a foot or more out of bounds. To us, his first contact beyond the goal line misses the end zone. By a bunch. So it should be, we believe, first-and-goal at the 1.

But because he caught a blink of end zone airspace during his flyover, the break-the-plane rule credits Harris with six points. Bonus: He stomped the pylon, which despite being positioned out of bounds is somehow considered an indicator of scoring a touchdown. So Harris collected the daily double of illogical scores. Meanwhile, to us it’s just another bewildering Nix Six. Rating: 4

CIN@PIT: Taking a dive

In the final minute of a game that Cincinnati had sewn up, Harris takes flight again, leaps over his O-line, extends the ball to briefly punch the end zone’s airspace for a cheap TD, then falls to the ground short of the goal line.

Yep, heart-pounding stuff. That’s a break-the-plane touchdown. Rating: 3.5

CIN@PIT: Down at the corner mug store

Fans who have watched break-the-plane touchdowns for years have become inured to the logic-confounding result of the call. Here Cincinnati RB Samaje Perine gets wrestled out of bounds by Steelers’ CB Levi Wallace (29) before he can make contact with the end zone. Pretty decent defensive play.

But because Perine managed to float the ball over just a nib of the end zone’s airspace, it’s a Cincinnati touchdown. We hope to help people snap out of their break-the-plane stupors and recognize these calls such as this are both a visual blight and an affront to common sense in a fantastic game. Rating: 4

CIN@PIT: A rule that’s out of step

As discussed throughout this site, we contend that a touchdown should be determined by a ball carrier’s first point of contact beyond the goal line, not his capacity to displace some of the air that hangs over the end zone.

As the images below show, Cincinnati’s Samaje Perine gets drilled by Pittsburgh safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick (39) and Arthur Maulet (34). Despite getting credit for breaking the plane (or maybe entering the pylon’s airspace, which is another touchdown indicator that baffles us, Pernine’s first point of contact beyond the goal line is partially out of bounds. (See below.) So it goes. Rating: 3.5

TEN@GB: No feet in? Then we say no TD

As he nears the goal line and left pylon, Tennessee’s Dontrell Hilliard pushes off on his right foot and, beyond the goal line, his left lands just out of bounds. As we routinely explain, our rule stipulates that a touchdown is awarded only when a ball carrier’s first point of contact is in the end zone, fully inbounds.

That doesn’t happen here. We say Titans’ ball, first-and-goal on the 1. Rating: 3