Cowboys were right all along: Bryant did make the catch
INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL competition committee is now acknowledging something the Dallas Cowboys have always known: Dez caught it.
New York Giants owner John Mara told ESPN on Tuesday that Bryant’s “no catch” in the Cowboys’ January 2015 playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers will likely be ruled a catch in the future.
He said the competition committee has reached a “unanimous” agreement that Bryant’s play should have been ruled complete as well as that of former Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson in 2010.
The competition committee
is conducting meetings prior to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in hopes of changing the rule for the 2018 season.
“I think where we are unanimous,” Mara told ESPN on Tuesday, “(are) plays like the Dez Bryant play in Green Bay, going to the ground, the Calvin Johnson play from a couple of years ago. I think all of us agree that those should be completions. So let’s write the language to make them completions.”
Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones, also a member of the competition committee, said a final approval of the new rule won’t happen until the spring owners meeting next month.
“We will figure it out,” Jones said. “I do think we will make some improvements. Our fans and, in general, people will appreciate it when it’s all said and done. I think it will simplify it personally.”
Bryant’s play was initially ruled as a catch on the field, but was controversially overturned on replay because he allegedly didn’t hold the ball throughout the process of going to the ground.
Bryant caught the ball, switched hands and took two steps before reaching for the end zone. The ball popped up as he hit the ground and Bryant secured it. It was then overturned.
Cowboys fans long believe they would have won the game if the play hadn’t been overturned, sending Dallas to the NFC title game for the first time since 1995.
JONES’ APPEAL: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones plans to appeal the NFL’s decision to charge him for reimbursement fees in excess of $2 million connected to his opposition of commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract extension and the league’s battle with running back Ezekiel Elliott in federal court, a source told the Star-Telegram.
A hearing has not yet been scheduled and, according to Judy Battista of the NFL Network, Jones would be making his appeal to Goodell himself.
“Really don’t have any comment,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Tuesday at the NFL combine in Indianapolis.
The NFL is using a resolution added to the league’s constitution in 1997 that requires an owner to reimburse the league for legal fees if he brings litigation against other owners.
Stephen Jones said he doesn’t remember the resolution ever being enforced before.