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If you want a really stark contrast on this, take the example of the 1970 AFL playoff game where Blanda's pass was caught by a receiver in the air just short of the goal line, he took one step in the field of play backing into the end zone, and as he broke the plane of the goal line with the ball, an opponent hit him from behind and knocked it loose: touchdown. It didn't seem he'd gotten his other foot down, and contact with the opponent prevented that before the ball broke the plane, but its doing so while in his grasp was ruled to have not only killed the ball but caused the loose ball to end in his possession. Probably had that play occurred clearly in the field of play, the status of the ball is still in doubt as he's coming down, so it's an incomplete pass. Nowadays on the goal line I think they'd have the status of the ball and therefore the score in abeyance and rule it incomplete there as well, since, after all, it's the score that kills the ball, not merely having it in one's grasp while airborne beyond the goal line.
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