NO@TB: It’s a reach

The Saints’ Devin Neal, gripping the ball in his left hand, smartly extends his arm (and thus the ball) above the goal line, then brings it back to his body, most likely to avoid having it stripped out of his grasp. At that point Neal gets mushed to the ground without the ball reaching the goal line. He’s down, he’s short, and in our view, it should be second-and-goal from inside the 1.

This is not the most objectionable example of an airspace touchdown. But to our way of thinking, in a contact sport such as football, if you do not make contact with the designated scoring area before you are ruled down — if you can’t complete the mission without the benefit of a technicality such as the break-the-plane rule — you don’t deserve six points.  Hocus Bogus Rating: 2