TEN@IND: ‘They’re gonna give it to him’

“Couldn’t quite get there initially,” announcer Ian Eagle says as Colts QB Jacoby Brissett is stuffed at the line of scrimmage. But wait. “And they’re gonna give it to him,” Eagle says as the officials seem to surprise the TV booth with a touchdown call. “Titans thought they had him stopped.”

It sure looks that way. Listed at 305 pounds, Tennessee DT Jeffery Simmons (98) puts his blocker and then Brissett into reverse with a powerful leg drive. Yet someone, somewhere, somehow decided Brissett broke the “imaginary plane,” as analyst Charles Davis describes it. We don’t see how. To us, all this slo-mo grunting and shoving results in an imaginary touchdown. Rating: 5

TEN@IND: Double pump

Jacoby Brissett is stopped short of contacting the end zone for the second time, although this time he’s able to hook his arm forward and gouge a little end zone airspace with a double-pump move. But no way does his body reach the end zone.

This is purely a touchdown by technicality. Yes, Brissett briefly broke the Great Invisible Plane with his arm pumps. But is that truly a convincing football move? Is it really worth six points? Is a play such as this the reason we watch football? We say no on all counts. Rating: 4

TEN@IND: Pylon straddle

Between two imaginary touchdowns by Jacoby Brissett, the Titans’ Derrick Henry got credit for one himself.

Henry runs wide right on first-and-goal from the 1, and as he nears the sideline he takes a hit from Tennessee LB Shaquille Leonard (53) that alters his stride and causes him to straddle the goal line as he passes over it. He pushes off with his right foot, then lands out of bounds on his left.

By rule, his brief period in flight above the goal line is considered good enough for six points. Because he made no contact with the end zone, we would love to fix that rule and call this a nonscoring play. Rating: 3.5

LAC@BUF: Breaking a plane

Buffalo’s Josh Allen runs wide left, dives, flies over the corner of the end zone, touches only pylon and out-of-bounds territory. In our view of the game, we see nothing that makes this play a touchdown. Hocus Bogus rating: 4

CLE@JAX: Pylon fly-by

People love pylon dives. They can look pretty exciting, we agree. We would just be more excited if the ball carriers made contact with the end zone rather than just flashing through their airspace.

Here Jacksonville’s Colin Johnson somehow keeps his feet inbounds after he launches himself forward from the 2. Browns CB Kevin Johnson (28) pops him just in front of the goal line and, while Johnson is able to guide the ball through a narrow channel of end zone airspace, he lands fully out of bounds.

Sorry. As admirable as Johnson’s effort is, our rulebook would never call this a touchdown. Rating: 4

WAS@DAL: Stepover

This is a simple stepover of the end zone’s corner. Nothing crafty or nefarious is at work here, just some casual, imprecise footwork on the part of Washington RB Antonio Gibson. Gibson strides through the end zone’s airspace with neither of his feet touching the end zone itself.

Not a big deal to most people, but if our rule was in place, Gibson would be ruled short of the end zone since he never made contact with it. Rating: 1.5