Confusing rule goes their way twice

ZACH Ertz nearly saw his goahead touchdown catch that lifted the Eagles to the franchise’s first Super Bowl overturned by the NFL’s confusing catch rule.

“If they had overturned that, I don’t know what would have happened to the city of Philadelphia,” a smiling Ertz said on the stage at U.S. Bank Stadium after the 41-33 victory.

Ertz caught the ball and took three steps before diving into the end zone. After the ball crossed the goal line, the tight end lost control.

It was called an 11-yard TD on the field for a 38-33 lead with 2:21 to play. But the play looked similar to the TD scored by Steelers tight end Jesse James that was overturned in a regular-season loss to the Patriots, so there was no certainty about the result of the review until Ertz’s TD was upheld.

James, though, had no doubts about the outcome, watching from afar.

“@ZErtz_86 caught it,” the Steelers tight end tweeted after the play.

Dean Blandino, the NFL’s exVP of officiating now working as a FOX NFL analyst, weighed in on Twitter to explain why the call stood.

“He had the ball long enough to be a runner and then went to the ground. Call should stand,” he said.

A catch controversy caused confusion earlier on the NFL’s biggest stage at Super Bowl LII, as well.

Eagles rookie running back Corey Clement hauled in a 22yard touchdown pass from Nick Foles to put Philadelphia up 2919 on the Patriots with 7:48 remaining in the third quarter. Clement got two feet in bounds before his toe on his third step touched the white line at the back of the end zone.

The play was called a touchdown on the field, and appeared to be the correct call. But when it went to review, NBC announcers Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth both felt strongly that Clement’s catch would be overturned to incomplete.

Plenty in the media covering the game agreed that Clement’s slight bobble of the ball meant he hadn’t established possession