MIA@LV: Slapstick six

Yes, Raiders RB Peyton Barber briefly breaks the end zone’s plane with his lunge over his blockers. But before he contacts the turf, Miami’s Jevon Holland (8) slaps the ball out of his hands and the Dolphins recover the loose ball. Despite the fumble and the defense’s recovery, the play is ruled a touchdown.

This reveals a double standard in officiating touchdowns. The instant a player breaks the plane, the very millisecond he cracks the Great Invisible Plane, a touchdown is recognized and the play is over.

In contrast, imagine a receiver who makes a leaping, off-balance grab of a high pass near the back of the end zone. For that moment and the time he is falling, maybe a full second, he has possession of the ball. What if he crashes hard to the field, cannot “survive the ground,” and his body’s impact with the turf jars the ball loose? Such an outcome would be ruled an incomplete pass. 

So how does a less-demanding play such as Barber’s lunge — a hope-for-the-best springboard leap above the line of scrimmage that breaks the plane — rate an automatic-touchdown ruling without requiring him to maintain possession of the ball when he lands? Seems inconsistent to us. Hocus Bogus rating: 5

NO@NE: Out/reach

Impressive move by New England’s Kendrick Bourne to keep his feet inbounds after making a tough catch. We would be more impressed if he found a way to steady himself and step into the end zone for a clear-as-day touchdown.

Instead, and not surprisingly, Bourne took the much easier choice made possible by the break-the-plane rule: just wave the ball in a corner of the end zone’s airspace and that’s good enough. Not all that interesting or athletically demanding, but the break-the-plane rule is designed to accommodate scoring simplicity, not requiring the best from players.

Note: Check out Bourne, whose feet land far out of bounds once he’s past the goal line, use his eyes to plead his case for a touchdown call. It indicates he knows the loophole of the break-the-plane rule: “All it takes is a wave, ref; I don’t have to touch a thing.” So true. Such a shame. Rating: 4.5

SEA@MIN: Another pylon wave-over

It’s a familiar scene by now: Receiver makes a catch in the flat near the end zone, turns and heads toward the goal line, gets cut off by a defender, can’t reach the end zone, so just waves the ball at the pylon and hopes for the best.

As usual, the tactic is a success, this time for Seattle’s DK Metcalf. As always, we consider this a lousy call, since a) it appears Metcalf barely got a portion of the ball into the pylon’s airspace, b) pylons are positioned in out-of-bounds territory, so why is waving the ball over one considered worthy of a touchdown and c) he never contacted the end zone, the designated scoring area. CB Bashaud Breeland (21), meanwhile, gets no credit for keeping Metcalf out of the end zone.

This is touchdown-by-technicality, a rulebook loophole made possible by the break-the-plane rule. It’s an unsatisfying result for fans who we imagine were hoping to see a more definitive or exciting outcome. Rating: 4

WAS@BUF: Just a bit outside

This outstanding 73-yard catch-and-run by Washington’s Antonio Gibson ends with Bills’ CB Tre’Davious White (27) giving Gibson a last-gasp shove, causing Gibson to crash-land on the pylon with his right elbow.

Because pylons are located in out-of-bounds territory, we would say no score and give Buffalo the ball first-and-goal on the 1. Many fans would probably howl at such a ruling and call us killjoys, and we can understand why. We have grown accustomed to watching break-the-plane touchdowns, and Gibson does in fact get the ball into the goal line’s airspace a split second before he lands out of bounds.

Emotionally, we want such great effort at the end of an exciting play to be rewarded. But if we’re going to be true to a new rule, this would need to be ruled a no-score. Even we feel a little sad about that. Rating: 3

WAS@BUF: Most favored pylon

The northwest pylon at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium saw a lot of action during the second quarter of this Bills-WFT game. Two minutes and 12 seconds after Antonio Gibson’s 73-yard mad dash (described above), Washington QB Taylor Heinicke scrambles 20 yards for what goes in the record book as a four-yard run., bonking the same pylon. “They really like that pylon over there,” jokes Fox analyst Daryl Johnston.

As with Gibson’s run, Heinicke hits the pylon (which is positioned out of bounds, as the circles in the accompanying image make evident) and not the end zone. How can that be a touchdown?

“We’re seeing some tremendous offensive plays here,” announcer Chris Myers says. He’s right. These plays, despite being (in our view) ersatz touchdowns, are exciting to see. Fans and players have become conditioned to think of a pylon as a legitimate scoring destination, so it’s a moment of high drama when a runner lunges at one. We dig the thrills. We just want players to dive for the actual scoring area, the end zone, not an orange obelisk located out of bounds.

How, by the way, was the WFT able to score twice so quickly? On the kickoff following the Gibson run, Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins, kicking into a strong breeze, ballooned his kick which bounced near the 10 and, after a scramble, Hopkins recovered the loose ball. An early 21-0 Buffalo lead was now 21-14. The Bills scored the next 22 points and won 43-21. Rating: 3

IND@TEN: Mighty close

Colts RB Nyheim Hines gets chased wide left by Tennessee LB Sharif Finch (54) and CB Dane Cruikshank (29), so he benefits from the “extra-wide” end zone the break-the-plane rule makes possible. He can fly over the left corner of the end zone, catching only its airspace, then landing out of bounds. It’s a handy shortcut for ball carriers, but a disappointing result for fast-closing defenders.

Hines almost gets his right knee down in the end zone, but his right elbow and knee both hit out of bounds after his flight through the end zone’s airspace.

If our rule was enacted, players would adjust to how such plays are called. Soon they would learn that the extra-wide end zone is no longer available, and they would turn upfield quicker and take aim at the end zone. We believe that would result in more interesting, more competitive plays. Rating: 3

TB@LAR: Outside the lines

When viewed from the typical sideline perspective, it looks as though the Rams’ Cooper Kupp contacted the end zone with a portion of his upper body. The replays show otherwise, and while Kupp does fractionally break the plane, he makes first contact with the ground (left hip, left elbow, and eventually his left shoulder) in out-of-bounds territory once he’s past the goal line.

In our view, that’s not worthy of a touchdown. First contact beyond the goal line, we believe, must occur inside the designated scoring area, i.e., the end zone. Rating: 3

SEA@MIN: Simple stepover

Here is another example of how the break-the-plane rule accommodates imprecise play.

Seattle RB Chris Carson could have stepped into the end zone at the end of this 30-yard run. But just to make sure Vikings safety Xavier Woods does not catch him, he angles wide left and, after planting his right foot in front of the goal line, steps across the corner of the end zone (nipping that all-important end zone airspace). Meanwhile, his left foot lands out of bounds. He never touches the end zone.

Plays such as this would be more interesting, and fairer to the defense, if ball carriers were required to contact the end zone in order to earn a touchdown. Rating: 3