WAS@NYJ: Reach out and touch . . . zip

Up, over, and out. New York’s Breece Hall makes a terrific athletic effort to fulfill the legal requirements for a touchdown by technicality.

All the existing break-the-plane rule demands is that a ball carrier guide the ball over a portion of the goal line, no matter how small, or over the top of the pylon (even though pylons are positioned out of bounds). 

Hall never touches the end zone. Once he is beyond the goal line, his first contact is made with his right hand, which lands out of bounds.

You hear people talk about the “eye test” when assessing a football team or a player. Does this meet your idea of an eye test for a touchdown? If so, your eyes see things differently than ours. Hocus Bogus Rating: 5

AZ@CHI: Cutting the corner, pt. 1

As he cuts across the corner of the end zone without ever touching it, Chicago’s Khalil Herbert gets credit 1) for rocking some really snappy high-rise socks and 2) a no-touch touchdown. We at least applaud his choice of socks.

Cut off from the end zone by four Arizona defenders, Herbert makes the judicious choice to run wide, avoid contact, and still claim six points even though he never makes contact with the designated scoring area. The break-the-plane rule makes this possible, allowing Herbert to make his first contact beyond the goal line about a yard out of bounds. Yet if you cannot touch the end zone, is your effort truly worth six points?

Is this not essentially extending the width of the end zone, forcing the defense to defend an extra-wide area? If so, is this not a silly rule? Rating: 4

NYG@PHI: Cutting the corner, pt. 2

What is a defender’s ultimate job? Simple: To keep opposing ball carriers out of the end zone.

Here Philadelphia safety Reed Blankenship (32) trails New York’s Darius Slayton after Slayton reels in Tyrod Taylor’s pinpoint deep ball. At the 10, Blankenship dives, swipes at Slayton’s feet, and barely knocks him off stride. 

Slayton totters, wobbles, and finally is forced to leap over the corner of the end zone. He steps out of bounds without contacting the designated scoring area. This is the equivalent of flinging a dart, completely missing the dartboard, but still receiving credit for a bullseye. How does this make sense?

Blankenship did his job. His efforts kept Slayton out of the end zone. However, the existing break-the-plane rule nullifies Blankenship’s determination, and Slayton collects an airspace touchdown. That doesn’t seem right. Rating: 4

2016: ‘The Immaculate Extension’

We step into the Wayback Machine and revisit Dec. 25, 2106, when one of football’s most glaringly memorable airspace touchdowns occurred — so memorable that pundits hung a catchy nickname on it (The Immaculate Extension), and it later became the subject of an NFL Films feature.

With 14 seconds left, no timeouts available, and a divisional crown on the line, Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown caught a Ben Roethlisberger pass short of the end zone. Two Baltimore defenders, safety Eric Weddle (32) and linebacker C.J. Mosley (57), wrap up Brown and keep him out of the end zone. That’s good D.

Yet Brown, before he is wrestled down at the 1, manages to extend the ball with his left hand and briefly wave it in the end zone’s airspace.

That momentary wave is somehow considered of greater significance, of greater value, than the strength and tenacity demonstrated by Weddle and Mosely (though Weddle got away with an undetected facemask violation).

Brown is awarded a touchdown. Baltimore, leading by three before this play, is eliminated from postseason contention. The Steelers, conversely, clinch a playoff berth. All due to the ruling of a no-touch touchdown. Wow. Rating: 5