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: More end zone avoidance, Week 6. 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.

Airspace touchdowns (ATDs) are:

Regular-season TD totals confirmed via Pro Football Reference.

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

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Fix the Rule News: No-touch touchdowns, Week 6

If you believe Atlanta’s Drake London deserves a touchdown for reaching the ball into the end zone’s airspace, though he never makes contact with the end zone until the play is whistled dead, then you must also believe the following:

In baseball, any fly ball hit that carries over the fence but is caught by a leaping outfielder who reaches over the fence and brings the ball back into the field of play should be ruled a home run. After all, the ball broke the plane, right?

Find more details in our Week 6 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.