For the love of logic, put the touch back in touchdown
It’s a contact sport. Yet players can score without contacting the end zone. Why is that?
News Desk: Preseason’s parade of puzzling touchdowns continues. See below.
All of these plays were ruled touchdowns. Yet never did the ball or ball carrier touch the end zone. Since 2020, fans have witnessed this more than 350 times.
Clockwise from top left: NBC Sports, Fox Sports, CBS Sports. Fox Sports
Airspace touchdowns 1) occur too often (almost 1 in every 4 games), 2) are farcical to watch, and 3) diminish the game we love. Fans deserve better.
Fix the Rule News Desk: Curious preseason TDs
In midseason form
Our list of weird-looking touchdowns spotted during the first two weeks of the NFL preseason grows longer. It’s as if the league was playing can-you-top-this? with its latest swarm of oddites on display during Week 2.
Four times last week ball carriers were stopped short of the goal line. Yet on all four occasions, because the runners were able to briefly lean into a fragment of the end zone’s airspace, they were awarded touchdowns. Not worthy.
If you think such desultory, unappealing plays are a drag to watch, consider the despair defenders must feel. They do their job. They keep ball carriers from contacting the end zone. Yet they still face criticism for yielding a score based on a technicality, the puzzling break-the-plane rule.
What if, we like to ask, baseball adopted the break-the-plane rule? Then an amazing catch by the Athletics’ Denzel Clarke (see video) would be nullified. The ball broke the plane of the fence, right? By break-the-plane logic, that’s a home run.
How silly is that idea?
We invite you to check out our preseason recap of touchdowns strange and ugly.
What if break-the-plane logic was applied to other games?
Hole in one
The ball is clearly breaking the plane of the cup, so it’s in. Put me down for an ace.
Home run
Who cares if the ball is in the glove? It broke the fence’s plane on the fly.
Bucket
Your corner three rimmed out? Easy. It dipped below the rim, so it’s good.
Cornhole
That bag is breaking the plane of the hole. We’ll take three points.
Ringer
Look, the shoe is breaking the plane of the stake. Three points for me.
Inside Fix the Rule
In brief
What we’re up to, in as few words as we can manage.
Concept
Learn about the Super Bowl touchdown that lit our inquisitive fuse.
New rule
Few rules are perfect, but we say our idea is better than the existing rule.
Pylons
What exactly are these orange foam antennae intended to do?
Ratings
Not all ATDs are equal. The ugliest of them earn The Full McEnroe.