PHI@KC: Patrick, prince of the pylon

Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes is a savvy competitor. If he can find an easy way to claim six points, he’ll take it. And Mahomes, to his credit, has figured out the easy way to a touchdown is not fighting through defenders to get into the end zone, but by running way wide of it and simply plunking a pylon.

Mahomes pulled the same trick in Week 1. And why not? If the refs will give him six points for such a lame move, he should take it. Only pylons are fully, entirely, 100 percent out of bounds. So says the NFL Rulebook.

See the Playing Field Details section, Field Markings subhead, point 5: “Pylons must be placed at inside edges of white lines and should not touch the surface of the actual playing field itself.”

So why is hitting once considered a touchdown? The answer is unknown. See a compendium of pylon pokes in our Film Room. Hocus Bogus Rating: 5

LAR@TEN: How can this be?

As he goes flying out of bounds, with no hope of contacting the end zone, the Rams’ Davis Allen barely grazes the outside of the pylon — and for this he is awarded six points. Astonishing. 

Imagine if you are Tennessee cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. and through hustle and drive you have successfully kept Allen out of the end zone. But Allen still gets six points because he tapped an object that is fully out of bounds, as this image clearly shows. That’s got to be tough to accept. Rating: 5

CHI@DET: Ground to a halt, pt. 1

Detroit’s David Montgomery leans into the end zone’s airspace, that’s clear, but he never makes contact with the designated scoring area. In a contact sport, we think that’s a reasonable expectation for receiving six points. Rating: 3.5

DEN@IND: Ground to a halt, pt. 2

The Colts’ Daniel Jones gets collared by a Denver lineman and never gets his torso or legs into the end zone. Yet because he is perceived to have broken the plane, he gets six points. Not a convincing touchdown. Rating: 3

Close call: Shin and you’re in?

If, as the announcers speculated, that one foot down plus a shin down meets the two-feet down requirement for making a catch, then we would agree — this impressive grab by the Saints’ Juwan Johnson is good for six. But we don’t know for certain, and it’s mighty, mighty close.

We’re intrigued by the commentary offered by rules analyst Mike Pereira, a fine gentleman and a two-time cancer survivor. “Forget the pylon,” he says. “The pylon does not put you out of bounds in the NFL. That’s considered inbounds when you touch it.”

To which we respectfully reply: But why? Why is clanking into an object that is 100 percent out of bounds considered an inbounds act?