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 survey of Super Bowls 1–58 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
What are the most questionable touchdown calls in Super Bowl history? We offer a half-dozen candidates, topped by the greatest headscratcher of them all, the phantom touchdown — the go-ahead touchdown, no less — awarded to Kansas City’s Damien Williams in Miami late in Super Bowl LIV.
We have assembled all six in a compliation clip found on our Film Room page and on our YouTube channel. Happily, we witnessed no break-the-plane touchdown calls in Super Bowl LIX. That gives us a final total of 63 airspace touchdowns during the 2024–05 season.
We did spot four no-touch touchdowns during the 2024–25 playoffs, recounted in our Postseason 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.