Catch rule

[theBOMisthebomb]

You joke, right? The loses contact with 2nd base on a steal for a milisecond rule is absurd.

I don't like the slide rule or even the no crashing into the catcher rule. My point was they seemed to be put there for safety. In football, they make up rules on the fly, most of the time reacting to a call that went against a team like the Packers or the Cowboys in a crucial spot the previous season.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

 

also per Rule 8 here are the conditions for completing or intercepting a pass:

 

a. secures control of the ball in his hands or arms prior to the ball touching the ground; and

 

b. touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands; and

 

c. maintains control of the ball after (a) and (b have been fulfilled, until he has the ball long enough to clearly become a runner. A player has the ball long enough to become a runner when, after his second foot is on the ground, he is capable of avoiding or warding off impending contact of an opponent, tucking the ball away, turning up field, or taking additional steps.

 

With the Jesse James play, the pass was completed (paragraphs a. and b.) when James caught the pass and his knee went down, and then he became a runner (paragraph c.) when he tucked the ball away after making the catch (if you notice, he does tuck the ball away for a split second before lunging for the goal line), and then when he turned up field (lunged for the touchdown). 

 

There's nothing in the rule about "surviving the ground" or completing the process of a catch or whatever. That's just the NFL, officials, and media commentators making stuff up. Like I said, I have no idea how it got to this point.   

 

[TheLeviathan]

 

There's nothing in the rule about "surviving the ground" or completing the process of a catch or whatever. That's just the NFL, officials, and media commentators making stuff up. Like I said, I have no idea how it got to this point.   

 

Mostly because if you call that play a TD, there will be complaining on the other end.

 

But, IMO, as long as you allow runners so much deference for crossing the plane and then anything else goes.....that complaining should fall on deaf ears.

[one_eyed_jack]

I'm bracing myself for one of these stupid rulings to kill the Vikes tomorrow.

 

I'm hoping the NFL addresses this mess in the offseason.  it could happen, the NFL hates it when the post-Sunday conversation is dominated by officiating controversies, and that happened a lot this year.

 

I think there 2 main problems with the Catch Rule.

 

First of all, it's unnecessarily complex.  As this piece points point out, while the rule defining a catch at the high school level is 51 words, the version in the NFL's rule book "contains 649 words with three lettered subsections, six numbered items, and two notes".  

 

It's silly. They added some things a while ago in an attempt to alleviate confusion, but those additions only added confusion.  Then,  in their typical arrogant fashion, instead of removing the confusing additions, they kept doubling down, and tried to clarify and justify them with even more additions, thus the mess we have today.  

 

They finally got it of the impossibly stupid Tuck Rule after years of defending it, so hopefully they see the light here.

 

The other problem is the overuse of replay.  It's now taken to CSI levels where plays are reversed due to movements that could never be detected in real time.  Replay was supposed to be limited to overturning obvious mistakes like when a receiver clearly landed out of bounds.  It was not meant to be used to make fans wait 10 minutes while every touchdown catch is reviewed in slow motion from every possible angle so there could be the opportunity for a hypertechnical analysis of whether the receiver met every single one of a list of requirements.

 

Replay should be limited to objective determinations - in or out of bounds, did the ball hit the ground before it was caught - things like that.   And if you can't tell within a minute or two of review if the call on the field as wrong - it stands.

 

Maybe the results would be less consistent, but right now, they are consistently stupid, and they suck all the fun and flow out of games.

 

 

 

[ashbury]

I guess that's one of those calls, on Floyd in the end zone early in the 2nd quarter, right?

[Mr. Brooks]

I guess that's one of those calls, on Floyd in the end zone early in the 2nd quarter, right?

I disagree. That shouldn't be a catch under any rule. He wasn't close to having possession (IMO) before the ball hit the ground.

[Doomtints]

Screw the rules!

 

Oh wait they are all following strict fashion rules for entry into the social group. nm