The Microscopic Touchdown

[Aloysius]

[img]http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/SB28202060105.jpg[/img]
He leaps!!!
[img]http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/SB27402060058.jpg[/img]
In this image Ben's already been hit back, it looks like where he is holding the ball is slightly not accross the plane. Factoring in the block, it is likely that at this point a touchdown had already been completed. This is probably the best image to analyze that I could find, but a photo from a couple seconds earlier would really be more helpful.
[img]http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/SB27502060106_thumbnail.jpg[/img]
while he's on the ground it's clear that the ball is no longer accross the line, but that is irrelevent-- the rules say it merely need cross the plane
[img]http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/SB27902060103.jpg[/img]
here the tip is accross the plane after he's already on the ground, also probably irrelevent..


I'm surprised I can't find any more pictures being analyzed on the internet. I think that's because all the people who are complaining that it wasn't a touchdown are probably afraid that an image would prove it was... come on, where's the picture taking of this photo-finish like scenario?

[Era Might]

That doesn't tell us much, because we still don't know if he was down before it crossed the plane (and that angle doesn't give us conclusive evidence that it did, in fact, cross the plane).

[Aloysius]

yeah, that's what I'm saying, I want to find a pic a couple seconds before the second one, preferably taken from the side.

sheesh I found one that would have been perfect timing on the line and from the right angle, except it was for the wrong touchdown. lol, why is there no pick of it from that angle? :angry:

[khouse]

I do not think it was a touchdown but they probably would have gone for it on 4th down with a good chance of them scoring.

[Aloysius]

I'm actually calculating from the picture exactly what position the ball was at in the second picture. If it is not accross the plane at that point, I guess what I'll then need to do is find out the exact time index at which this photo was taken and get a tape of the event

I wanna prove this as a touchdown so it can go down in Pittsburgh history right with "The Immaculate Reception" and the newly instituted "The Immaculate Tackle"... this can be the "microscopic touchdown"

[rkwright]

From Fox Sports...

[url="http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5313884"]Read Here[/url]


The important part here

[quote]Roethlisberger told Letterman that he didn't think he scored on a controversial play in the second quarter that put the Steelers ahead for good 7-3. Roethlisberger dove toward the end zone but didn't appear to get the ball to touch the goal line. But officials on the field signaled touchdown.

"I told Coach, 'I don't think I got in,'" Roethlisberger told Letterman. "But we were getting ready to go for it on fourth down anyway, and I would have run it again. So we would have found a way to get in."[/quote]

[khouse]

[img]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/house215/2006_02_05t211619_450x364_us_nfl_su.jpg[/img]

No good.

[Era Might]

[quote name='khouse' date='Feb 8 2006, 07:12 PM'][img]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/house215/2006_02_05t211619_450x364_us_nfl_su.jpg[/img]

No good.
[right][snapback]880943[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

He's not down yet, though.

[Aloysius]

Actually, I'm not so sure. Remember Plato and don't trust your senses: geometry shows a more real world than physics. That camera angle is slightly tilted (note the touchdown line) so its perspective has to be accounted for.

But that was the image I was looking for. Thanks.

Here is the plane that the ball had to have crossed on both images

[img]http://www.chesterbel.net/theplane.JPG[/img]

[img]http://www.chesterbel.net/theplane2.JPG[/img]

I'm not sure what to make of it yet, perspective is a hard thing to factor out of a photograph

[cmotherofpirl]

There is a replay off it showing it cross the line.