LV@DEN: Another leap to nowhere

Is this why we watch football? To watch large men play a little bounce house?

Under Sean Payton, Drew Brees was credited with more than a dozen touchdowns during his career for springing over his offensive line and briefly poking the ball into the end zone’s airspace. (Watch some farcical examples we documented from Week 5 and Week 7 of the 2020 season.) Never did it appear Brees had any intent of getting into the end zone. All he wanted was a touchdown by technicality, made possible by the inane break-the-plane rule.

Now Payton has got Bo Nix performing the same trick.

Against Las Vegas, Nix (with his eyes closed) managed to springboard over the Raiders’ line and gouge the end zone’s airspace for a split second before getting knocked backwards. That’s six points the silly way. For some reason, football’s overlords say that’s good enough. We think that’s nuts. Hocus Bogus Rating: 5

LV@DEN: Bo knows no-touch TDs

One quarter before Bo Nix got six points for his peekaboo ball poke at the Las Vegas goal line, he set up running back Jaleel McLaughlin for a no-touch touchdown of his own with a swing pass from the 4.

Cut off from the end zone by Raiders’ LB Tommy Eichenberg (45), McLaughlin takes the easy route and dives for the pylon. He manages to bang into it, though one foot may have hit out of bounds before that. But, as rules analyst Dean Blandino concedes, no one could really tell. So, as is football’s pattern, if it’s close enough, it’s good enough. Go ahead, give ’em six points.

However, one thing IS certain on the replays: At no point did McLaughlin ever touch the end zone. Rather than trying to determine if some invisible plane has been intersected, that would seem to be a far more logical reference point for determining what qualifies as an actual touchdown. Rating: 4.5

GB@LAR: Just a bit outside

Seriously? Josh Jacobs is credited for his first touchdown as a member of the Packers with this?

Pursuit by the Rams’ defense leaves Jacobs no choice but to dash for the corner of the end zone. He has zero chance of getting in, but he is able to briefly wave the ball just inside the pylon before he runs out of bounds.

The defense did its job; it kept Jacobs out of the end zone.

Doesn’t matter. As if waving a bullfighters’ cape at the pylon, Jacobs is considered the victor in this battle and is credited with the biggest prize football can offer: six points. All for coming up short of his objective and never touching the end zone. Wow. Rating: 4.5
 

GB@LAR: Elbow down

Officials on the field originally thought Tucker Kraft’s lunge for the goal line fell short. And it did, since his elbow and forearm landed just in front of the line.

But because he had the ball above the line in his other hand, Tucker was awarded six points. To us, a touchdown should only be awarded when a ball carrier’s first contact occurs on or beyond the goal line with the ball at least at the goal line.

We agree with the officials’ original call, even though we concede Packers’ fans would have wanted this to be called a score. We believe earning six points demands a higher level of execution. Rating: 3
 

BAL@CIN: Foot fault

As explained above, we believe a touchdown should only be awarded when a ball carrier, once he is beyond the goal line, makes first contact inside the end zone, fully inbounds. It’s a similar requirement placed on receivers. To earn a catch at the pro level, both feet must be inbounds. 

Here Cincinnati’s Chase Brown is forced by the defense to go wide of the end zone, and his lead foot lands out of bounds. We would rule him short, place the ball inside the 1, and line them up for third and goal. Rating: 3
 

College extra: Pylon fly-by

What is more surprising? That Alabama lost to Vanderbilt, or that this interception return by Vanderbilt’s Randon Fontenette was ruled a touchdown? Fortenette obviously didn’t want to take a lick, so he exploited the break-the-plane rule to its extreme and ran as far away from potential tacklers as that wacky rule would allow. Smart kid. Dumb rule. Rating: 5