Pylon

[CT1]

Originally Posted by Altor

Forget about it hitting the pylon for a moment. You are standing at the pylon for a kickoff. From here you clearly see the ball crosses the plane of the sideline before reaching the goal line. It then lands two yards behind the goal line and five yards OOB. Is this a touchback?

Of course not.

But you're asking the wrong question. What you should be asking is: Can the ball touch the pylon without breaking the GL plane (extended)? The answer is "no".

The reason for having pylons is to give the players and officials an easy vertical reference point for the location of the intersection of the goal line and sideline. Defining the pylon as being OOB behind the GL makes it simple to officiate.