The catch rule in the NFL has been the most impossible rule to interpret for the past few years. At long last, the NFL has come to their senses.
The catch rule in the NFL has been unnecessarily difficult to interpret for quite some time now, and it really never had to be this way. The fans could clearly see on the screen what was and wasn’t a catch, but, according to the official rules, it wasn’t so simple.
After countless moments where officials couldn’t decide what a catch was the competition committee has finally decided to change the rules in regards to what is a catch. It’s been a long time coming, and the NFL has finally seen the light.
New York Giants owner John Mara told ESPN in February the committee agreed on a couple hotly debated rulings. Calvin Johnson’s game-winning touchdown catch against the Bears in 2010 that was eventually reversed and the infamous Dez Bryant no catch against the Packers would now be considered catches under the new rule.
There were way too many instances where referees took an insane amount of time trying to review whether a play was a catch or not. It wasn’t a good look mostly because the vast majority of the time you could clearly see whether or not it was a catch.
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The same rules where you have to make a football move shall apply, but the biggest change is that they’re removing the whole “going to the ground” thing that ruined everything. Now obviously if a catch is clearly aided by the ball hitting the ground it’ll be incomplete, but plays like Zach Ertz touchdown in the Super Bowl, or Jesse James touchdown against the Patriots would be considered catches.
The NFL needed to get this right after a season of overturned calls that quite frankly shouldn’t have been overturned. Plus, these plays always seem to happen in the most crucial of moments, and that’s not what the league wants.