MIA@NE: Wide left . . . at the pylon

When a kicker goes wide of his target, he gets zip. Here Tyreek Hill uses football’s existing break-the-plane allowance to veer far from tacklers, barely wave the ball over the goal line, and get six points while never touching the end zone.

In the clip, watch New England’s Myles Bryant (27) wave his arms in frustration as Hill performs his sleight of hand at the pylon. We’re guessing Devin McCourty (32) and Jalani Tavai (48), who forced him wide but get no glory, were similarly irked.

This leads to an important question: Does the break-the-plane rule work both ways? In the middle photo above, Hill seems to break the out-of-bounds plane at the same time the ball goal line plane. So, if airspace judgments matter equally, isn’t he out of bounds at this point? Otherwise, he’s being granted an extra-wide end zone — by a couple of feet. That hardly seems fair to the defense. Hocus Bogus rating: 4.5

CLE@WAS: One lame leap for QB-kind

This is no Apollo 11 moment. It’s just one short yard to make, one lame leap for a logic-defying six points. By existing rules, yes, this is a break-the-plane touchdown. But does this type of effort — a springboard hop where the ball briefly occupies the end zone’s airspace before Carson Wentz plops on a crash pad of bodies, never touching paydirt — deserve such a payout? We think not.

A silly rule leads to silly-looking scores. What a lame touchdown. Rating: 4.5

CLE@WAS: He ‘sneaks in for the touchdown’?

Announcer Adam Amin’s call is correct, technically, but should it be? Should a ball carrier get credit for a touchdown, a whopping six points, for clanking a pylon (which is positioned out of bounds) and not touching the end zone? We say no.

It’s amusing to hear announcers try to find the words to describe airspace TDs. You can often sense that in their hearts, they understand such rulings are poor excuses for touchdowns. We sympathize. Rating: 4.5

Note: Like the Tyreek Hill example above, here Cooper’s body breaks the out-of-bounds plane before the ball breaks the goal line plane. Inconsistent logic.

IND@NYG: Which plane gets broken?

Even by existing break-the-plane standards, awarding a touchdown for this effort is a stretch. Daniel Jones last makes inbounds contact with his right foot on the 1. Next, his left knee hits the outside the pylon, and the only airspace his ball-toting left arm enters is the out-of-bounds sideline.

Announcer Kevin Harlan exclaims, “He can see the pylon!” That’s great, but shouldn’t a ball carrier’s objective be to reach the end zone? To make contact inside of it, not just (maybe, in this case) wave the ball over a pylon? This is a total Nix Six.

And poor Rodney Thomas (25) of the Colts. He goes full-bore to pop Jones and keep him out of the end zone. But break-the-plane rulings have grown to be so permissive that all his effort goes for naught. Advantage, offense. Rating: 4.5

IND@NYG: Are we being too picky here?

Our proposed new rule, we recognize, is not perfect. It’s just much better, we believe, than the existing rule that permits airspace TDs.

Our rule mandates that a ball carrier must make fully inbounds contact with some portion of the end zone in order to be awarded a touchdown. What if, as happened on this play involving New York’s Isaiah Hodgins, a player’s knee hits in front of the goal line a split second before the rest of him lands on the goal line (or in the end zone)? By our rule, here the ball would be placed inside the 1. Tough call, we know.

Our rule will lead defensive coaches to scrutinize replays of close-call plays such as this and challenge touchdown rulings. Detractors of our rule will howl at this possibility. We’re not thrilled about it, either. But as this project has taught us, rule-makers must draw the line somewhere, and despite grumblings from those who embrace the status quo, we still favor our rule. Rating: 1.5