Today in Dallas Cowboys History - Dez Caught It!

[big dog cowboy]

BTW, the same replay official ruled that Cobb "caught" this pass in the first half of the very same Dez game.

 

[MarcusRock]

Where does it say in the rulebook that a player has gather himself and lunge forward?

To your second point about the phrase "sudden forward rush or reach", Dez's did a sudden reach for end zone with the football. Since you got called out on trying to redefine the word reach, you are now making up things that didn't happen in the Dez catch video like Dez didn't suddenly reach for the endzone, Dez slipped, etc.

I get it. You get busted tying to avoid that I proved to you that 3 steps wasn't part of the catch rule back then which you never acknowledged (also proving you don't care about what was true, only the result you wanted) so now you have to say that I was "called out" trying to redefine the word reach. What?? You're the one trying to redefine football terms with a dictionary, and even there you left out inconvenient words trying to be sly. Busted you but you just say you busted me to deflect. Yet another without integrity.

But to answer you lunge rule question, here it is. In the NFL rulebooks, there are items called Approved Rulings (A.R.) that simulate plays with examples to explain certain rules. The NFL rulebook, not the dictionary, defines them as:

RULE 3 DEFINITIONS​

SECTION 1 APPROVED RULING (A.R.)​

An Approved Ruling (A.R.) is a written decision on a given statement of facts and serves to illustrate the intent and application​

of a rule.​

In 2014, there are several of these that address going to the ground or a completed catch or not. Here's the A.R. showing that a lunge is needed to bail a player out of the going to the ground tag. Blandino's phrase "gathers himself" is "braces himself" in the rule.

A.R. 8.12 GOING TO THE GROUND—COMPLETE PASS​

First-and-10-on B25. A1 throws a pass to A2 who controls the ball and gets one foot down before he is contacted by B1. He goes to the ground as a result of the contact, gets his second foot down, and with the ball in his right arm, he braces himself at the three-yard line with his left hand and simultaneously lunges forward toward the goal line. When he lands in the end zone, the ball comes out. ​

Ruling: Touchdown Team A. Kickoff A35. The pass is complete. When the receiver hits the ground in the end zone, it is the result of lunging forward after bracing himself at the three-yard line and is not part of the process of the catch. Since the ball crossed the goal line, it is a touchdown. If the ball is short of the goal line, it is a catch, and A2 is down by contact.​

This is why Steratore at the end of the game and then Blandino later were still looking for a football move even though the going to the ground tag was applied. They were each looking for a lunge as noted here in the rules and Dez did not complete one. As I've tried to explain over and over again, this is why the football moves listed in the catch rule for upright receivers or other things people mention (pitch it, pass it, turn upfield, ward off opponent, "switching hands," etc.) meant nothing because the ONLY thing you can do when going to the ground to have a completed pass is keep the ball off the ground or lunge. That's it. Anything else is made up shoehorning to get a desired result, not the actual rules.

This is something almost no poster on these boards knows about. But if people can't even correctly apply the general rules as written, why would I trot this out and try to explain it to them? I'm only posting this to you because you asked. But you won't acknowledge its legitimacy because as I covered, you're only after one result like so many others, not the truth.

 

[cguy610]

I get it. You get busted tying to avoid that I proved to you that 3 steps wasn't part of the catch rule back then which you never acknowledged (also proving you don't care about what was true, only the result you wanted) so now you have to say that I was "called out" trying to redefine the word reach. What?? You're the one trying to redefine football terms with a dictionary, and even there you left out inconvenient words trying to be sly. Busted you but you just say you busted me to deflect. Yet another without integrity.

But to answer you lunge rule question, here it is. In the NFL rulebooks, there are items called Approved Rulings (A.R.) that simulate plays with examples to explain certain rules. The NFL rulebook, not the dictionary, defines them as:

RULE 3 DEFINITIONS​

SECTION 1 APPROVED RULING (A.R.)​

An Approved Ruling (A.R.) is a written decision on a given statement of facts and serves to illustrate the intent and application​

of a rule.​

In 2014, there are several of these that address going to the ground or a completed catch or not. Here's the A.R. showing that a lunge is needed to bail a player out of the going to the ground tag. Blandino's phrase "gathers himself" is "braces himself" in the rule.

A.R. 8.12 GOING TO THE GROUND—COMPLETE PASS​

First-and-10-on B25. A1 throws a pass to A2 who controls the ball and gets one foot down before he is contacted by B1. He goes to the ground as a result of the contact, gets his second foot down, and with the ball in his right arm, he braces himself at the three-yard line with his left hand and simultaneously lunges forward toward the goal line. When he lands in the end zone, the ball comes out. ​

Ruling: Touchdown Team A. Kickoff A35. The pass is complete. When the receiver hits the ground in the end zone, it is the result of lunging forward after bracing himself at the three-yard line and is not part of the process of the catch. Since the ball crossed the goal line, it is a touchdown. If the ball is short of the goal line, it is a catch, and A2 is down by contact.​

This is why Steratore at the end of the game and then Blandino later were still looking for a football move even though the going to the ground tag was applied. They were each looking for a lunge as noted here in the rules and Dez did not complete one. As I've tried to explain over and over again, this is why the football moves listed in the catch rule for upright receivers or other things people mention (pitch it, pass it, turn upfield, ward off opponent, "switching hands," etc.) meant nothing because the ONLY thing you can do when going to the ground to have a completed pass is keep the ball off the ground or lunge. That's it. Anything else is made up shoehorning to get a desired result, not the actual rules.

This is something almost no poster on these boards knows about. But if people can't even correctly apply the general rules as written, why would I trot this out and try to explain it to them? I'm only posting this to you because you asked. But you won't acknowledge its legitimacy because as I covered, you're only after one result like so many others, not the truth.

Respect for sharing this information and the detailed response.

That's the first time I've heard of this requirement for a receiver to brace himself to complete the process of a catch.

 

[MarcusRock]

Respect for sharing this information and the detailed response.

That's the first time I've heard of this requirement for a receiver to brace himself to complete the process of a catch.

Mutual respect for seeing the rules as they were back then. For the record, I don't blame Dez for trying to score as that's just in a receiver's blood to go for the end zone if it's right there. But on a 4th Down play, protecting the ball is the absolute priority. If he'd kept the ball in 2 hands and feared the ground knocking the ball loose, he'd have probably kept it off the ground too. But he exposed it and what happened happened. Just terrible luck.