percyhoward
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It all started with the Bert Emanuel play in 1999, the year that instant replay returned to the NFL for good after a six-year hiatus. The rule at that time was that if the ball touched the ground while the player was in the act of catching a pass, it was incomplete. The league decided that this was an unfair rule, and that the ball should be allowed to touch the ground as long as it didn't move. The following season, they changed the rule to say that the ball could touch the ground if the player maintained control throughout the process.
This led to years of replays looking at whether or not the ball touched the ground, and if so, whether it moved. These replays also brought up the question of whether the player had already completed the act of catching the pass when the ball hit the ground, because if that was the case, it was okay for the ball to move, or even come loose completely.
Interestingly, only then did the 3-part catch process begin to take shape. For plays other than sideline or end line catches, the only catches that are ever in doubt are the ones that involve contact with the ground or another player. That's why the ancestor of Item 1 ("going to the ground" rule) is older than the ancestor of the catch process. That's also why the 2015 change to Item 1 affected more catches than any change to the catch process would have affected.
So it's odd that when the NFL announced the new catch rule, it focused on the 3-part catch process rather than on Item 1. The league told us "Oh by the way" that "going to the ground" (which I assume means Item 1) would be eliminated.
"It is a catch if in the process of attempting to catch the ball, a player secures control of the ball prior to the ball touching the ground, and that control is maintained after the ball has touched the ground."
This led to years of replays looking at whether or not the ball touched the ground, and if so, whether it moved. These replays also brought up the question of whether the player had already completed the act of catching the pass when the ball hit the ground, because if that was the case, it was okay for the ball to move, or even come loose completely.
Interestingly, only then did the 3-part catch process begin to take shape. For plays other than sideline or end line catches, the only catches that are ever in doubt are the ones that involve contact with the ground or another player. That's why the ancestor of Item 1 ("going to the ground" rule) is older than the ancestor of the catch process. That's also why the 2015 change to Item 1 affected more catches than any change to the catch process would have affected.
So it's odd that when the NFL announced the new catch rule, it focused on the 3-part catch process rather than on Item 1. The league told us "Oh by the way" that "going to the ground" (which I assume means Item 1) would be eliminated.