KC@BUF: All pylon

AFC Divisional 2: Everything seems to be going right in Travis Kelce’s life, and that includes his relationship with the break-the-plane rule.

Here Kelce takes a swing pass from Patrick Mahomes and finds his route to the end zone closed off by two Buffalo defenders. He is eventually pushed out of bounds by Buffalo linebacker A.J. Klein (52), yet he manages to elbow the sideline pylon (which is positioned 100 percent out of bounds) as he flies out.

Officials signal a touchdown, though Kelce never touched the end zone. Rules analyst Gene Steratore speculates Kelce might have nudged the ball’s nose into the airspace above the goal line, thus breaking the Great Invisible Plane, but none of the replays seem to confirm that.

Kelce did bonk the pylon with his elbow, and did so perhaps a microsecond before his left knee and foot touched the white out-of-bounds sideline. Should that matter? To logical minds, no. Out-of-bounds territory (where pylons stand) is out of bounds. But the NFL Rulebook (Rule 3, Section 12, Article 3) declares that pylons, despite being fully out of bounds, are part of the end zone. But why? We find that rule, and this call, flat-out baffling. Hocus Bogus Rating: 5

TB@DET: One step over the line

NFC Divisional 2: Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs makes a terrific move on All-Pro Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield, Jr. (31) and appears to have a clear path to the end zone.

Yet Winfield recovers enough to force Gibbs toward the sideline. Eventually, Gibbs must angle toward the pylon and fight Winfield off with a stiff-arm.

Winfield’s determined pursuit causes Gibbs to miss making contact with the end zone, stepping in front of the goal line with his right foot, then landing out of bounds with his left. He did break the plane, though to us that’s only part of the touchdown process. 

Pardon our affinity for common sense, but we think touching the actual end zone, football’s designated scoring area, should be required if you expect to walk away with a heaping helping of six points.

In darts, do you get points if you miss the board? No. How stupid would that be? (Answer: Really stupid.) If a ball carrier misses the end zone, we believe the same logic should apply. Is this not sensible? We thus would reward Winfield’s effort, not Gibbs’ imprecise footwork, by giving Detroit the ball first-and-goal inside the 1. Rating: 3

GB@DAL: Corner cutting

NFC Wild Card 2: After making a diving pick of a Dak Prescott pass in the final minute of the first quarter, Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander — toting his first interception of the season — races toward the end zone.

With multiple Dallas tacklers impeding his path, he takes a wide path toward the right pylon. After he zooms over the goal line’s airspace, he lands out of bounds, never touching the end zone. In essence, Alexander expanded the end zone’s dimensions by running wide and simply breaking the plane to avoid tacklers. How advantageous.

At first called a touchdown, officials later ruled that Alexander had made contact with intended Dallas receiver Brandin Cooks when going to the ground, and that ball was brought back to the 19. Therefore this is not an airspace touchdown.

Even so, let’s review: The contact Alexander had with Cooks, while minor, was important in determining the outcome of the play. But making contact with the end zone (football’s designated scoring area) was not important when determining if a touchdown had been scored? How about that? Rating: 3.5

CLE@HOU: Hands down, a legit TD

AFC Wild Card 1:  Not a single airspace touchdown was recorded during  Week 1 of the playoffs — a good thing. One was initially announced but eventually waved off (see below). 

Some readers thought Houston’s Nico Collins benefitted from a break-the-plane ruling on the Texans’ first score against Cleveland. At first glance, in real time, it could look that way. But while Collins was tumbling over in the corner of the end zone, his right hand touched the end zone (his left knee, too) before he rolled out of bounds.

In our view, any in-bounds contact with the end zone by the ball carrier, no matter how minimal (and as long as the ball reaches or is carried beyond the goal line), is worthy of six points. In Collins’ case, he earned this TD.