While watching Monday night football last night (Jets vs. Fish), Al Michaels and company said the league (NFL) always states that the goal extends "through infinity." I think that they said, and here’s where I’m confused, that as long as the ball carrier doesn’t touch the ground out of bounds, that he can cross the goal line that extends beyond the pylon and score. Did anyone else here this and does it make sense to anyone?

Not sure I heard it.
 

I am not particularly familar with the term, but it is accurate.

If you are inbounds and you reach across the goal line, it is a TD.

Peace

Re: Not sure I heard it.
 

I heard it, it was on the very close catch near the sideline, tippytoed dive to the pylon. I believe it was the Jets first TD. It was an amazing play and a great call.

The goal line only extends forever on a player who is touching inbounds, so if a player dives outsie the pylon then you don't have a TD. But in the Jets game the player dived to the pylon but held the ball inside the pylon. He might have even had his feet inbounds. It was a great catch by the player and great call by the officials.

Snake~eyes,
So what you are saying is:
1) my toes are inbounds at the 1" line and the ball crosses the goal line outside of the pylon, it's a touchdown
2) I'm in the air before I reach the goal line the the ball crosses the goal line, out side the pylon at the same spot, no touchdown.
Thanks for the info.

REPLY: Consider it this way...If a ball in a runner's possession crosses the plane of the goal line itself (i.e. inside the pylon), it's going to be a TD regardless of where the runner's body is--as long as he's not <u>touching</u> OOB. However, it's also a TD if the runner crosses the goal line plane and touches the endzone inbounds regardless of whether the ball is inside or outside the pylon. The goal line extended concept is there to cover the play where a runner goes from the field of play into the EZ just inside the pylon where he's carrying the ball in his outside hand. In such a case, the ball may be outside the pylon and not cross the goal line itself. When I first typed this, I thought my explanation was pretty clear...now I'm not so sure.<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZSzeb02822' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_1_13.gif' alt='Not Sure' border=0></a>

<b><u>I</u></b> know what I'm trying to say, but I'm not certain that anyone else will !!

Bob and snake~eyes.
That was very clear. Thanks much for the explanation.

Yes, I get what you say. I think it should be stated simply that the goal line plane does not end at the pylon.

RazorRef,
OR as was stated earlier, "the goal line plane does not end at the pylon" if the carrier is in bounds. If I launch myself at a 45 degree angle from the one yard line and land two yards beyond the projected goal line and out of bounds (i.e. I cross the portion of the goal line that is outside the pylon) it is not a touchdown.
Gentlemen, thanks much for the help on this. Although you wouldn't know it from this exchange, I'm actually fairly knowledgeable about football!!

One must assume that the players are "infinitely" tall for this to be true. :D

REPLY: Actually, Federation rules say exactly that in slightly different words in the definition of the goal line (NF 2-25-3). The NCAA rule says as much in NCAA 2-11-1 when you take into account the stated exception (4-2-4-e) when a runner dives across the sideline.

This is the second time I've seen this discussed in a thread, both started my Michaels and Madden. (see http://tinyurl.com/462gu) This one was a Buckhalter TD last season.
That thread died without an answer. And people weren't addressing the question I wanted answered.


Anyway - the question that remains for me is this:

If a player takes off at the 1, his body AND the ball fly and land beyond the goal line but out of bounds - and I mean WITHOUT the ball or body passing over the portion of the endzone marked as inbounds - is it a touchdown?

Because if that is not a touchdown, this whole thing about the goaline extending into infinity doesn't seem to really mean much. Because if you're just saying it's ok for the ball to pass in and the body to pass out - that's kind of obvious. He hasn't touched the ground yet.

Except that I saw someone say that if a player's entire body and the ball are in the air out of bounds he is out of bounds - even before he hits the ground. Because no part of him or the ball is over the field of play.

I really want an answer on this!!

No, this has been answered in this thread, I didnt look at the one you posted but I wouldn't be suprised if it was said there either. Goaline extended is only for players who are touching inbounds. Players who are in the air do not get goal line extended, they must get the ball inside the pylon.

Here we go again,
 

This is a long debated subject, that i wish the nfl would just realese an official statement.

The fact is, the goal line is a plane, by definition a plane is unbounded. Thats why the nfl rules commitee refers to the goal line as, "the line that goes around the world".

A player is not out of bounds when diving, until he hits the ground.

if someone dives out of bounds for a firstdown, the ball is spotted at the yardline where it is when they hit the ground, correct?

Lets say the yardlines of the endzone are E0 thru E10, if the player dives out of bounds at the 1 yardline, where he lands is going to be around E3 yardline, which would make it a TD.

Therefore a player diving out of bounds crossing the "extended goal line" out side of the pylon, is credited with a Touchdown.

No. Just no.

If the player is in the air when he goes out of bounds, the ball is spotted where the ball went out of bounds. If the player is in contact with the ground, the ball is spotted where the ball was when the player is ruled down (or out of bounds). Very easy, actually.

You are incorrect.
 

When diving out of bounds its the spot of the ball where you land.

When punting and kicking its where the ball crosses the out of bounds line. But when a player has position, the ball is not out of bounds until the player is, and by rule . . .

"A player or an airborne player is out of bounds when any part of his person touches anything other than another player or game official, on or outside a boundary line."