CAR@ATL: All pylon, no end zone

This is a great effort by Atlanta rookie QB Michael Penix Jr. We root for him; he shops at Costco. But while it is alleged Penix broke the Great Invisible Plane — and officials on the field initially did not agree that he did — at no point during this play did he touch any smidgen of the end zone. He merely clipped, fans are asked to believe, a fragment of its airspace.

Once again the break-the-plane rule delivers on its lame promise: If it’s close enough, it’s good enough. Congratulations for collecting six points while totally, completely, entirely avoiding the end zone. Hocus Bogus Rating: 5

KC@DEN: Plyon flyover, pt. 1

Once he goes airborne near the goal line, the first thing Denver’s Marvin Mims Jr. contacts as he comes back to earth is the six-foot-wide sideline — out-of-bounds territory. In the process, he misses the goal line and all 4,860 square feet of football’s vast designated scoring area, aka the end zone.

Yet because he managed to wave the ball at the pylon as he flew by, he is awarded six points. Who cares if the Kansas City defense forced him out of bounds? We learn again that, in football, if it’s close enough, it’s good enough. That sure seems lame to us. Rating: 4.5

NYG@PHI: Plyon flyover, pt. 2

The Giants’ Malik Nabers is over and out at the end of this play — over the pylon after tiptoeing down the sideline, and totally, entirely, and indisputably out of bounds when he comes crashing to the ground.

He touches not one iota of the expansive, prairie-like end zone, roughly 1.3 acres in size. Yet he is awarded six points for waving at the pylon as he somersaulted through a wisp of the end zone’s airspace.

Like the preceding two examples of airspace touchdowns seen during Week 18, this call confirms that when it comes to end zone plays and fabricated scoring excitement for fans, football’s rulemakers believe that if it’s close enough, it’s good enough. Rating: 4.5