Wednesday question

[mcrowder]

Based on the rules in the book, that's what I would rule as well. The crux of this situation is really simple... for an airborne player, did the ball cross the goalline inbounds, or did it cross the out-of-bounds line short of the goalline. That's the rule.

When you really think about it, by the time the ball touches the pylon, the play is already over (by milliseconds, yes, but over nonetheless). Any ruling based on the pylon is simply a shorter (and likely easier) way of determining whether the ball crossed the goalline inbounds or the out-of-bounds line short of the goalline first.

A ball that hits the pylon on the side MUST have already crossed the goalline inbounds. A ball that hits the pylon on the front MUST have already crossed the out-of-bounds line short of the goalline.

A ball that hits the CORNER of the pylon (where it's dang-near impossible to really tell, without super-slo-mo replay and a perfectly placed camera, which line was crossed first) is ruled a TD based on the caseplays.