Simplified catch rule passes; helmet-hit penalty widened

McKay: Tackling technique causing too many injuries.

Maybe it’s too late for Jesse James and the Steelers or Zach Miller and the Bears.

No matter, the NFL has a simplified catch rule designed to eliminate confusion — and, the league hopes, controversy — about receptions.

Team owners unanimously approved the new language Tuesday, with basically three elements defining a catch:

■ having control of the ball;

■ getting two feet down or another body part;

■ making a football move, such as taking a third step or extending the ball.

“We wanted to simplify and provide clarity,” Pittsburgh coach and longtime competition committee member Mike Tomlin said. “It was time to do so after we got caught up in language that didn’t do that. The language was obscure and confusing.”

Late Tuesday, the owners rewrote the rule on using the helmet, making it a 15-yard penalty for any player to lower his head to initiate any hit with the helmet.

Committee chairman Rich McKay called it “a significant change,” noting that it was a “technique too dangerous for the player doing it and the player being hit.”

McKay said the tackle made by the Steelers’ Ryan Shazier last season that resulted in the linebacker suffering a spinal injury — Shazier underwent spinal stabilization surgery two days later — was not the impetus for the change. But it was an example of what needs to be eliminated from the game.

“This one technique, we saw so many hits when a player lowered his head and delivered a hit and either hurt himself or the player he was hitting,” McKay said. “It was time for a change of this magnitude.”

While the offender could be disqualified, owners did not call for an automatic ejection on such a play as happens in college football.

Also approved Tuesday was making permanent spotting the ball at the 25-yard line after a touchback on a kickoff; allowing players on injured reserve to be traded; and authorizing a designated member of the officiating department to instruct on-field game officials to eject a player for a flagrant non-football act when a foul for that act is called on the field.

Withdrawn by the Jets was a proposal to limit defensive pass interference to 15 yards, the penalty in college, except for egregious incidents. The competition committee was not in favor of such a change, but McKay and football operations chief Troy Vincent said the idea has “some momentum.” It is likely to come up again in future meetings.

Tabled was a proposal to allow an assistant coach whose team is still playing in the postseason to sign a contract to become head coach elsewhere. That’s been dubbed the “Josh McDaniels Rule” after the Patriots offensive coordinator agreed to become the Colts coach in January, then reneged and returned to New England soon after the Super Bowl.

Colts: Coach Frank Reich said that quarterback Andrew Luck has begun to throw as part of the rehab for his surgically repaired shoulder. Luck missed the 2017 season because of the injury. Reich said he hasn’t seen Luck in action yet, but the franchise QB is clearly making progress after spending time working with quarterback mechanics gurus Tom House and Adam Dedeaux.

Titans: Agreed to terms on deals with quarterback Blaine Gabbert and offensive lineman Xavier Su’a-Filo. Gabbert, 28, is expected to replace Matt Cassel as Marcus Mariota’s backup.

Seahawks: Released practice-squad quarterback Trevone Boykin after his girlfriend alleged in a TV interview that he physically assaulted her in Texas last week. Boykin, 24, denied the allegations in a statement to NFL Media, saying he wasn’t involved in a physical fight.