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 of the Week: Find our Week 11 recap below

All of these plays were ruled touchdowns. Yet never did the ball or ball carrier touch the end zone. From 2020 to 2023, fans witnessed this nearly 300 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.

Airspace touchdowns (ATDs) are:

Regular-season TD totals confirmed via Pro Football Reference.

Select (or scroll to) Scoring Offense, then view the AllTD column.

2023               2022              2021             2020

Fix the Rule NEWS of the WEEK

Like moths to a flame, ball carriers are drawn to pylons because they make collecting six points so much easier.

When being chased by ill-tempered defenders, they recognize they can veer toward a pylon, pass by one while in flight above the end zone and land out of bounds, sometimes by a foot or more.

And all because of the break-the-plane rule, avoiding angry tacklers while landing out of bounds (essentially creating an extra-wide end zone) earns them six points.

How is it possible that in a contact sport, you can simply fly above the end zone, never come close to actually touching it, and still collect such a huge payout?

That’s a question we have asked every week during every season for nearly five years. Read all about this week’s five pylon fly-bys in our Week 11 recap.

Video and game image: Fox Sports

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.