By any reasonable interpretation of the rulebook, Dak Prescott’s wild pass to avoid a sack in the end zone is a safety. Unbeknownst to him, the Cowboys quarterback was able to exploit a gap large enough to let an offensive lineman through and evade the safety.

On this play, Prescott was about to be tackled in the end zone when he threw a desperation pass to offensive tackle Tyron Smith, who caught the ball. There was no eligible pass receiver in the zone. Referee Ron Torbert called a penalty for Smith for touching the pass as an ineligible player, but no foul on Prescott for intentional grounding. An intentional grounding in the end zone is a safety by the rule. Illegally touching the pass behind the line of scrimmage but not in the end zone is not a safety and is penalized from the previous point (five yards, or in this case, half distance). The Ravens refused, meaning they accept the result of the play—a 0-yard pass to a lineman.

It turns out that the lack of intentional grounding comes down to one essential aspect: the soil.

There is no casebook entry that even remotely replicates this play, so we checked with a former referee who said, “Grounding cannot occur on a caught pass.”

So if Smith touches the ball but doesn’t catch it, that’s intentional grounding. In college football, that would be intentional grounding, catch or no catch.

There is a good chance that the competition committee will look into this in the off-season. But the decision on the field is indeed the right one.

Bizarre research has a list of linemen who, while in the game as ineligible players, amassed offensive skill player statistics.