Hey NFL, what is a catch?
I never cared much about offensive rules in the NFL. Growing up, the league was favoring Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in every way imaginable, so I always assumed that any rule that favored defenses was good for the league. Two things changed that — Manning signed with my Denver Broncos, and I started playing fantasy football. Now I’m all about extra yardage for receivers, so I have just one question for the NFL rules committee. What is a catch?
The rule has been vague at best for quite some time. The committee finally removed the phrase “make a football move” from the equation, because nobody could agree upon what constituted a “football move.” Unfortunately, that common sense move actually made the rule harder to understand.
The ruling on the field often seems counter-intuitive to the eye test, and common sense has all but gone out the window. If you watch the game from your living room with your roommates, you will all agree that the previous play was a catch, and Ed Hochuli will invariably tell you that the pass was incomplete, and you are therefore a moron who does not understand the basics of football.
The Dallas Cowboys got the short end of the stick during a playoff game last year. Dez Bryant made a phenomenal play to jump over Sam Shields and catch a deep ball inside the 5-yard line. He then tripped over Shields and went to the ground. When his ball-carrying arm hit the ground, the ball came loose. Everyone in America thought it was a completion, including the official who was less than two yards away from the play when it occurred. Only after what felt like hours of booth review was the call overturned. Ten months later, we are all still confused.
There are multiple examples from this season that have kept everyone perplexed about the rule. Tyler Eifert, Golden Tate and Devonta Freeman have been at the center of plays that were prime examples that the NFL does not know what the rule means. Eifert and Freeman’s plays looked like clear touchdowns to me, but were eventually overturned. Tate’s was an obvious incompletion in my mind, but the booth called it a touchdown.
Calvin Johnson, who the rule was literally made for, says that even he doesn’t know how the officials call that rule anymore. I, as usual, have a proposal to fix all of our problems and bring back the game we all love. The NFL would never adopt it, because they would have to admit that they were wrong. How DARE we question the authority of the league?
The new rule would be simple. If the receiver has control of the ball and two feet down, it is a catch, and anything that happens after that is fair game. If the receiver does not demonstrate control or does not get both feet down, it is an incompletion.
The biggest complaint that I’ve received about this proposal is that it would force a lot more turnovers, to which I say — big deal. That’s a good thing. As I said before, anything that helps the defense, especially in a league where Tom Brady can be considered an all-time great, is good for the game.
— Tristan Boyce would like Legos for Christmas. Or video games. Or cookies. Also, he would like the NFL to make sure that the Patriots don’t win another Super Bowl. Tell him why that makes him bad on Twitter @Tristan_Boyce1.