Odell Beckham Jr. catch shows how valuable pylon cameras are

It’s easy and all too well-deserved to hammer the NFL over things like officiating and concussions and domestic violence, but here’s one thing that has worked nicely this season: the pylon cameras.

Look no further than the touchdown that Odell Beckham Jr. of the New York Giants scored Monday night.

Beckham brought in the ball as he raced across the endzone and, dragging his toes along the turf like a ballet star, he scored. Officials at first ruled that he was out of bounds, then reversed the call — thanks for the conclusive evidence offered by the pylon cam. (It’s the last image of the play in the video above.)

The cameras, long advocated by Coach Bill Belichick and developed by ESPN, were a preseason experiment that was extended into the regular season of NFL (and college) games. At first, there was a fair amount of skepticism about them, as Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wrote in September.

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An industry source predicts that the shots from the pylon cameras will be “worthless” in most cases, pegging the chances of a pylon camera providing a conclusive view of a play at one in 100,000.

“Short of someone spiking or dropping the ball before crossing the goal line this cam is a sham,” the source said.

But they’re clearly here to stay.

ESPN first used the technology, which consists of a custom-built pylon, a multi-camera housing with a fan and a wireless transmitter, during the FCS Championship game and College Football Playoff Championship. The cameras in each pylon can shoot shoot up the sideline, across the goal line and the end line.

It isn’t often that the cameras capture an unorthodox angle on scoring play, but when one of them does, it’s indispensible. Just ask Beckham, who “absolutely” knew his feet were in bounds. The six-yard TD reception tied the score against the Miami Dolphins (and his TD scamper later in the game won it). “I knew it was a touchdown,” Beckham said of the first TD, “and I didn’t want to let the opportunity pass.”

The pylon camera caught it, too.

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