NFL to consider restoring ‘football move’ requirement for catch
The NFL is going back in time to try to define and clarify a legal catch.
The league’s competition committee next week will recommend restoring the “football move” requirement for a reception, the same term it removed from the rule in 2015 in an attempt to make a catch less subjective and easier to officiate.
Al Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, announced the recommendation Wednesday in a tweet. The competition committee will present to all 32 owners at the league meetings, which begin Sunday evening in Orlando, Fla.
In March 2015, the league replaced the “football move” criteria for a catch by attempting to clarify what constituted such a move. That led them to revise the rule’s language to include more specific criteria for becoming a runner.
Dean Blandino, the NFL’s vice president of officiating in 2015, explained eliminating the term “football move” by saying at the time: “Once you go down that path, it becomes more subjective. What is, what isn’t a football move?”
Under the current rule, which was again reworded in 2016, a pass is complete (or intercepted) if the player secures control of the ball, touches the ground with either both feet or a body part other than his hand and maintains control of the ball long enough to become a runner. The rule defines becoming a runner as, after both of a player’s feet are on the ground, “he is capable of avoiding or warding off impending contact of an opponent, tucking the ball away, turning upfield or taking additional steps.”
Also, Riveron has applied the term “survive the ground” to rule on catches during which the player goes to the ground — meaning that a player is required to maintain control of the ball during and after hitting the ground.
Riveron’s tweets Wednesday did not address the “survive the ground” element of the rule, other than implying that a football move constitutes a catch even if that football move involves going to the ground, such as extending the ball for the line-to-gain.
However, the league is willing to relax the “survive the ground” element of the rule, according to Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations, who was quoted Tuesday by the Washington Post.