CIN@JAX: Six over easy

If he accomplishes nothing else in his career, Trevor Lawrence will be remembered as a player who proved it’s easy to score touchdowns and two-point conversions without ever touching the end zone.

Twice during Week 11 he waved the ball at pylons while heading out of bounds without ever stepping in the end zone and was credited with two touchdowns. Magical.

During Week 12 he did land in the end zone, but only inadvertently, while performing what has become his trademark move: a one-armed leap of faith designed to briefly gouge the end zone’s airspace while having no intent of actually reaching the end zone.

It’s the same sleight of hand he used to put up points in games during the 2022 season during Week 16 and the Wild Card round. Clever guy, that Trevor.

Here against Cincinnati, he uses what announcer Joe Buck calls a “jump and reach” maneuver to momentarily occupy a smidgen of end zone airspace, which by rule earns him the freedom to lose his grip on the ball while dropping to the ground without facing any consequences for such a flub. What a rule. What a country. What a bunch of hooey. Hocus Bogus Rating: 5

CAR@TB: In-flight entertainment

Is this mad sideline dash by Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans an exciting play? No question. Is it a memorable display of athleticism and determination? It sure is. Did Evans break the plane with the ball as he zoomed past the pylon? Upon closer examination, yes. Will this wind up on highlight clips promoting the high thrill factor of pro football? Pretty likely.

But should it be a touchdown?

Near the end of his 75-yard sprint, Evans is forced toward the sideline by a pursuing Carolina defender, cornerback CJ Henderson (23). Henderson’s job is to keep ball carriers out of the end zone, and here he succeeds. He forces Evans, after cutting off his path to paydirt, to make a desperate leap at the pylon while flying out of bounds in the process.

Yet because he was able to barely get the ball’s shadow to pass by the pylon, Evans gets six points and Henderson most likely gets no love in the film room when defensive coaches review the play. Tough world.

For legit excitement, skip these touchdowns by technicality and instead require ball carriers to do their job: get into the end zone. Rating: 4.5

CAR@TB: Similar action, different calls

In the court of officiating, slow-mo replay has made it possible to scrutinize close calls down to the millisecond. Is he in? Is he not? And even with the help of today’s high-def technology, sometimes calls still lack 100 percent certainty.

In the first play of this two-play sequence, Carolina’s Chuba Hubbard lunges toward the end zone but is ruled short — a call questioned by announcers Tom McCarthy and James Lofton.

It is really close, but as our screenshots show, Hubbard’s left knee appears to have touched a split-second before the ball intersected the goal line. So even when applying the existing break-the-rule standards, Hubbard was down before he reached the ball across the plane. No score. Good call.

On the next play, Hubbard is credited with a break-the-plane touchdown. In our view, even this should not be a touchdown because his knee is down before he contacts the end zone. Simply floating in the end zone’s airspace should not be considered worthy of six points. In a contact sport, we believe you should contact the end zone to earn those points. This is a tough game played by tough people. For six points, we favor a tough rule. Rating: 3