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 18 recap 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.
Airspace touchdowns (ATDs) are:
Fix the Rule NEWS of the WEEK
In the past five NFL seasons, starting in 2020, the year this site began tracking no-touch touchdowns, more than 350 touchdowns have been credited to ball carriers who have not made initial, in-bounds contact with the end zone — football’s vast designated scoring area, 10 yards deep and 53.3 yards wide.
In the majority of cases, ball carriers made no contact with the end zone at all, as demonstrated by the three headshaking airspace touchdowns that occurred during Week 18.
We find that to be a fairly staggering number: 350-plus touchdowns awarded to ball carriers who sometimes knowingly exploit the permissiveness of the break-the-plane rule to walk away with legal but less demanding touchdowns. Discerning fans are left to shrug and just accept these as unsatisfying shortcuts to six points, i.e., technical touchdowns.
Witness for yourself the trio of pylon puzzlers that wrapped up the regular season in our Week 18 recap.
Video and game image: ESPN
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.