‘Catch rule’ anger, confusion plentiful across league
It’s a catch. Wait, there’s a catch to the catch.
While coaches, players, fans and broadcasters become puzzled or annoyed by the NFL’S “catch rule,” the people in charge of developing and refining it through the years also have struggled. They simply couldn’t find language to simplify it, leading to the inconsistency and controversy seen for seasons.
Especially this season.
When such NFL personages as Mike Tomlin and Sean Payton — both with strong ties to the powerful competition committee — seek re-examination and possibly changes to rules, it moves the issue front and center, just as much as the call on Pittsburgh tight end Jesse James did last weekend.
“I think that we all can acknowledge that all of this needs to be revisited,” Steelers coach Tomlin said. “It’s not just that play. We’re having similar discussions week in and week out, so as a member of the committee, I acknowledge that we’ve got our work cut out for us this offseason regarding a number of those things.
“I’m just done talking about it, to be quite honest with you. You all know what we teach. Catch the football.”
Some players do, yet discover they didn’t. They’re confused by some of the calls. Even worse, they aren’t sure they understand the rules.
It should be simple, right? Except the rule is another example of an Nflrulebookwithsomanytangents that it would crush even the heftiest offensive lineman if it fell on top of him.
“Yeah, I don’t even know what the language is at this point,” said Bears tight end Zach Miller , who lost a TD reception by not “surviving the ground” on a play in which he was injured and sidelined for the rest of the season. “I don’t even know if the rule-makers do at this point know what the language is. ”
Even the current head of league officials, Alberto Riveron, and the man he succeeded, Dean Blandino, agree that getting the language right is difficult. Many others would add getting the call right is more difficult.
Two years ago, the league consulted with a group of players that included Hall of Famers Steve Largent and Tim Brown, plus current Nflers.
“And we went over this rule, a lot of the catch and no-catch situations, andattheendoftheday—wehad them in for two days — they decided the best way to keep the rule is where it is right now,” Riveron says. “But that does not stop us from going over it again and taking suggestions from any of the clubs.”
Those suggestions definitely will be coming. They already have begun.
“The difference between control and possession” is how James’ reversed touchdown for the Steelers last weekend is explained by Terry Mcaulay, a former NFL official who has worked Super Bowls and now is coordinator of officiating for the American Athletic Conference. “He clearly had a control for much of the play, (but) he didn’t have it long enough, the control was lost when the ball hit the ground, and by rule, and I’m speaking only college, he never established possession. Whether he was down or not, whether the ball crossed the plane of the goal line is irrelevant because he’s not a player in possession yet.”
Mcaulay surmises that the divergent level of skill from the college game to the pros is why the catch rule comes into play so much more inthenfl.
With the playoffs approaching, there’s little doubt the catch/no catch will come up again, perhaps even in a critical situation, as it did at Heinz Field on Sunday.
There also seems to be little question that the outcry about the rule will lead to — at the very least — a re-examination of it.
“It will definitely be on the agenda,” Blandino predicts. “Mike is on the competition committee, and any club can bring it up. They will do what they always have done: Look at different examples from the season, and talk to game officials. Maybe they will talk to players and obviously get coaches’ input, and then make a recommendation.