Hated catch rule clobbers us again
Insight, hindsight and foresight as we segue from Week 15 to Week 16 in NFL action:
OPENING KICKOFF
For starters: Perspective on the big news
The Oxford Dictionary defines the verb catch, in the applicable sporting sense, simply as to “capture … in hands, etc.”
The NFL’s definition is considerably more verbose. And complicated. And hated. Today maybe more than ever.
“Completing the catch to the ground” continues to be by far the most contentious qualifying words in the NFL rule book. That’s because the idea is counter-intuitive much of the time.
It means that during the process of catching a pass, if a player falls to the ground for whatever reason, he must continue to tightly secure the football in his hands or against his body, essentially until coming to rest on the ground — or “surviving the ground,” as is the now widely used phrase.
But when we see what at real-life speed appears for all the world to be a catch, instead ruled an incompletion because the NFL continues to insist on including this contentious qualifier, we lose our minds.
Even if we don’t care which team the call benefits.
I’ve never heard a press box explode in outrage and anger as I did Sunday at Buffalo, as NFL writers from Western New York, South Florida and yours truly from Ontario — while finishing off our Bills-Dolphins stories hours after that game had ended — couldn’t believe what we were seeing on TV.
OVERTURNED?! ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?! HOW CAN THAT NOT BE A TOUCHDOWN?!!
Yet the referee, in conjunction with the NFL’s central-replay command centre in New York, overturned what seemed a sure goahead scoring catch by Pittsburgh tight end Jesse James with 28 seconds left, in the Steelers’ eventual 27-24 loss to New England.
That’s because even though James cleanly caught the ball, fell to the ground on his knees without being touched by a defender just short of the goal line, then punctured the plane of the end zone with the ball in tight grasp, as he continued to fall forward the ground eventually caused James to briefly lose his grip on the ball. Incomplete.
The ref and the NFL’s senior VP of officiating back in New York, Al Riveron, indeed interpreted the rule correctly. Sorry, Steelers fans. They did.
It’s the rule that’s bogus, not the call.
TRENDS NOT COINCIDENCES
It happened again, so it probably will happen again
1. He might be an idiot at times, off the field and on, and might be slowed by more limb injuries than a horse trader’s mule, but New England’s Rob Gronkowski this season is proving he might be the greatest tight end in football history. He had the most prolific game of his career in Sunday’s dramatic victory at Pittsburgh. Gronk finished with nine catches for a career-high 168 yards, his 26th career 100-yard game, just five behind the tight-end recordholder, Tony Gonzalez. If it weren’t for the wild and super controversial last 30 seconds, when the Steelers somehow blew it, we’d all be talking about his dominating performance. Once New England got the ball at its own 23, trailing 24-19 with 2:06 left, all Gronk did was this, per the game-book’s playby-play log:
• 1/10 – N23 – (2:06) Brady pass incomplete short middle to Gronkowski;
• 2/10 – N23 – (2:01) Brady pass deep middle to Gronkowski for 26;
• 1/10 – N49 – (1:55) Brady pass deep middle to Gronkowski for 26;
• 1/10 – P25 – (1:09) Brady pass deep right to Gronkowski for 17;
• 1/G – P08 – (1:00) Lewis up the middle for 8 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Two point conversion attempt: Brady pass to Gronkowski complete. NE 27, PIT 24. (0:56).
2. Brady’s former backup, Jimmy Garoppolo, is off to a smashing start as San Francisco’s QB. If Niners GM John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan had had any doubts about what they were acquiring in late October, Jimmy G has surely snuffed them all out. The Niners were 1-10 when he took over the starting job from struggling rookie C.J. Beathard. In three games this month, all wins, Garoppolo has been dynamic — completing 68 per cent of his passes for an average of 336 yards per outing. And, to repeat, three victories. It’s been a long while since the Niners had a QB so aerially capable.
3. There’s track speed, and there’s sports speed, I’ve always believed. Some fast athletes can maintain their blazing burst and pace on curves – or anything other than a straight line. Others, not so much. Kansas City’s second-year flash — smurfy WR Tyreek Hill — might be the quickest such player in the league. If anything, he seems to go faster around corners. In last Thursday night’s win over the LA Chargers, Hill ran a curved-off outand-up route, of sorts. Chargers cornerback Casey Hayward – one of the best playmakers at his position in the NFL this year — couldn’t get a hand on Hill as he rounded the corner and launched himself down the sideline for a breathtaking 64-yard score. Hill left Hayward in the dust — or more correctly, in the black-rubber-bits of KC’s artificial-turf field. Long scoring plays are Hill’s specialty. He became only the third NFLer with 11-plus TDs of 50-plus yards in length over his first two years as a pro.