Roger Goodell has finally admitted that the NFL will take a closer look at the rules fine-tune them so that we can finally, without a doubt, say what is, and what isn’t a catch.
In many game-deciding situations the past few years, many catches that arguably should have been ruled catches were ruled as incomplete passes. The NFL’s current ruling on what a catch actually is lies in an incredibly gray area, and even the biggest rulebook gurus don’t know what a catch is and what a catch isn’t. Color analysts, fans, and even referees are stuck with, “I’m not really sure what a catch is,” in many instances.
The NFL commissioner Roger Goodell apparently hears the frustration and is looking to make a change. Speaking to fans about the question of the catch, Goodell said that, “we debated that in the office the last couple weeks.” This makes the issue seem small to Goodell, like something he’s talking to with colleagues around the water cooler. But I digress.
"I think what we’re really going to do is get some people who are really focused on evaluating every one of these, and try to see, because it’s a balance between what you think is a catch, what the officials can officiate on a consistent basis and what’s going to have what we call the unintended consequences."
Goodell also told fans that the whole way of reviewing plays is going to hopefully be revamped. Goodell would like the officials to review plays on Microsoft Surface tables, the same ones that players use to look over their plays.
This could decrease the time of games significantly, since officials wouldn’t have to go all the way to the sideline to go under the hood. A more glare-resistant, and weather resistant tablet would have to be created for that to happen, though. I think the real win would be the ability to use the Surface Pro’s stylus to mark up videos and still images. It’s a small feature, but I think officials could use that to their advantage in helping them decide calls.
The catch rule has been revised several times, and fans are hoping that if Goodell does decide to revamp the rule, he takes it seriously, or at least, takes the delegation of the task seriously.