Fitz catch vs. Dez non-catch

[SultanOfSix]

Under the "reworded" rule, we can't argue with the officials' judgment that he'd established himself as a runner, so it's a catch. They purposely made the rule ambiguous so they could avoid the messy explanations that were needed back when there was actually a set of criteria for establishing oneself as a runner.

We went from having the observable checklist of a) control, b) two feet, and c) a football move all being needed to establish a player as a runner to simply "establish yourself as a runner."

Ambiguity: a state of affairs where doubt is introduced as the only certainty.

 

[cej757]

We are embarrassing ourselves.

Looking like whiney teenage females. No need to attack the man on twitter.

It happened and we lost. Maybe if Murray didn't fumble the ball on that one drive we wouldn't need Dez to play superman.

Also at the end of the day, Dez trying to hard to make a play, bit him in the ***.

Boooooooo

 

[Boyz981]

You and I both know that was PI to the fullest.

Since when do refs pick up a flag minutes later? We all would have lost our **** if it happened to us.

Fans on here sat back and mocked other lions fans when they complained.

Now we have the right to get upset? Lol

LMAO!!

 

[DogFace]

All right, where's the obnoxious dude that was defending the Dez call?

 

[Floatyworm]

it just keeps getting better....

Yup....that hail mary pass was incomplete.....there shouldn't have been any overtime to begin with. Janis never had control nor did he complete the process of a catch.

This league is so messed up

 

[CrownCowboy]

I have been watching football for 22 years. I dont't know what's a catch and what isn't. Rules are messed up.

That's putting it lightly.

This league has become a joke.

 

[Floatyworm]

The pick in the OP with a side by side comparison.

Apparently the explanation going around the Internet is that Dez was contacted before hitting the ground and Fitzgerald wasn't and that is why Fitz was considered a runner and Dez was not.

I personally think that is a pure BS explanation, but that is the explanation going around.

NFL doing the CYA dance this morning.........

I'm patiently waiting to see how the NFL/Seahawks screw Carolina today....calling it now. NFL wants Seahawks vs Patriots rematch.

 

[khiladi]

This was all about robbing the Cowboys last year. I blame Jerry, because if this were Kraft or Mara, they'd be expressing their anger in public when it happened.

Our good two-shoes like Stephen and Garrett were making all sorts of excuses for the league.

 

[Cowboys22]

Can we please stop *****ing about this. It's ancient history at this point and nothing can be done. Everyone knows that should have been a catch but the rules at the time were so ambiguos that different refs would call it differently. It's obvious that the league was embarrassed and tweaked the rule and changed how it is to be interpreted. Dez's catch would probably be called a catch now and that's why all these other similar situations are going the opposite way. It's sucks but it's the way it is. Every team has things like that thEy can point to and ***** about. It's not just us.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

Blandino has embarrased himself already.


case in point: arbitrary rules, never reffing a game but is head of officiating

You wouldn't take the job if offered to you? It's the people who put him in place that should be embarrassed.

 

[StarBoyz83]

it just keeps getting better....

I still say it was a td. He had it secured until it was punched out then hit it the gorund. Plus it was in the endzone.

 

[DogFace]

We are embarrassing ourselves.

Looking like whiney teenage females. No need to attack the man on twitter.

It happened and we lost. Maybe if Murray didn't fumble the ball on that one drive we wouldn't need Dez to play superman.

Also at the end of the day, Dez trying to hard to make a play, bit him in the ***.

**** post of the week. Congrats!

 

[Tenkamenin]

So many people, including myself, were talking during the week leading up to that game was that we were nervous of the officiating. Especially after what happened in the Detroit game. That we would not get the benefit of the doubt at all. And any close call, would not go our way. To kind of make up for what happened to Detroit. The whole week was not how we came back and won, but how much Detroit was "screwed" out of the loss. The entire week. And they made it worse by coming out and saying they got that call wrong. Like that mattered.

One of my favorite comments on twitter,

"The difference between Larry Fitgerald's catch and Dez? @DeanBlandino wasn't caught partying on the Cardinals bus"

 

[LandryFan]

They had the right rules in place. The problem is (and I've said this a million times and will continue to say it) is that Blandino doesn't understand the rule. He kept thinking that the 'Calvin Johnson Rule' applied with Dez. But, it doesn't. The rulebook clearly states that once the ball is caught and the player *advances* the ball, the ball is deemed to be caught and can no longer be incomplete. The Calvin Johnson Rule didn't apply to Dez's catch because CJ was already in the end zone and could not possibly advanced the football. It would be similar to a player that catches a sideline pass and manages to get both feet in, but the ball pops the ball loose. The receiver in that case didn't advance the football, so it's not a catch.

Dez caught it and advanced it. You don't even have to worry about how many steps because falling forward is 'advancing the football' and should be a catch. Dez caught the ball, took three steps and stretch out forward. That's every bit of 'advancing the football.' And Blandino agreed that Dez 'advanced the football', but claimed that he 'didn't advance it far enough.' There was absolutely nothing in the rule book pertaining to 'advancing the ball far enough' or what that entails. Blandino simply made that up.

I actually question Fitzgerald's catch even more because it appeared that he bobbled it a little before he got to the sideline.

But either way, it's a real shame because the rule in the rule book was a sound rule and clearly defined. But because one idiot manages to screw that up, it's turned into a complete fiasco.







YR

What I recall was Blandino saying that Dez made a football move, but not enough of a football move. I don't recall him saying Dez didn't advance the football far enough. Either way, though, he didn't have indisputable evidence to overturn the ruling on the field. If the NFL doesn't fire that fool after this season, there will be little doubt that games are being fixed through arbitrary officiating calls...just make the calls that produce a desired outcome...there's no proof of a fix because the rules are written in such a way that it merely is a matter of judgment.
The league should just go back to the old "two feet down with possession" to determine a catch but they won't do it because, according o them, that would produce "unintended consequences". I use to wonder what those unintended consequences were, and now I know. The desired winner may not win (without a little help from Blandino and his band of idiots).

 

[lurkercowboy]

When did the Lions get interfered with? The Lion's receiver clearly grabbed Hitchen's face mask. Hitchens never made contact with the Lion's receiver. Face guarding is NOT a penalty in the NFL.

Hypothetically, if #59 Hitchens had lost the use of his arms before that game (so he had to walk around like Molly Shannon in that episode of Seinfeld) but the Cowboys still played him at linebacker in that playoff game, and he was covering the receiver on that play, the pass still would have not been complete - because the ball bounced off Hitchen's back. The refs made the right call there.

 

[percyhoward]

What I recall was Blandino saying that Dez made a football move, but not enough of a football move.

And that's all it comes down to. We waste our time talking about the contact, jumping for the ball, counting the steps, etc. but none of those things were the issue in Blandino's mind. His issue was that Dez didn't complete the catch process because he didn't make enough of a football move. If the catch process is over, then "going to the ground in the process of making the catch" can't apply. He's now going to the ground as a runner.

According to Blandino, if Dez reaches with two hands, or extends his arm toward the goal line, those are football moves and the catch process is complete before he goes to the ground. Many of the people who debate the call don't understand this fact.

 

[blindzebra]

Do you see the point where Dez and the defender touched before Dez went to the ground?

1. This is continually ignored as contact on this board.
2. Regardless of the number of steps Dez took, he appeared to be falling because of this contact.
3. Thus the rule of maintaining the catch throughout the movement to the ground applies.
4. Dez landed with the ball touching the ground.
5. The ball popped loose from his grip, DUE TO TOUCHING THE GROUND.
6. Dez caught the ball in the endzone.

But...the ground caused him to lose control of the ball and made the ball move to the point he no longer held the ball, thus it was not a catch.

I am a homer, but I am not blind. All the rhetoric about this by the refs, league, and this board means nothing since the criteria for a catch met certain needs to make this a non-catch.

He made contact (no matter who initiated it)
He went to the ground because of said contact. (No matter if the contact forced him to the ground and no matter how many steps)
He landed with the ball touching the ground
The ball moved to the point he no longer had control

NO CATCH

Back in the day, I was a bartender, and the Lynn Swann catch was argued at my bar for an entire off season. That argument did not change the outcome of that Super Bowl, and this argument about it being a catch will not change this.

The only difference is the internet and people making graphics to illustrate a point they will ultimately lose because it was not interference then and it was not a catch in regard to the Dez play.

The rules may be inconsistent, but the rule was applied to this play in a consistent manner with the way the rules are interpreted.

Show in the 2014 rules where the going to the ground exception trumps the catch process.

It doesn't, there were casebook plays that mirrored the Dez play. The rules were that a catch happens when you have control, 2 feet in bounds, and make or have time to make a move common to the game. If you do that at any point before you hit the ground the going to the ground exception does not matter.

For the life of me I don't get how anyone can't understand the way rules are written. Going to the ground only matters if the 3 part process is not completed BEFORE YOU CONTACT THE GROUND AND NOT BEFORE YOU START GOING TO THE GROUND.

 

[LandryFan]

And that's all it comes down to. We waste our time talking about the contact, jumping for the ball, counting the steps, etc. but none of those things were the issue in Blandino's mind. His issue was that Dez didn't complete the catch process because he didn't make enough of a football move. If the catch process is over, then "going to the ground in the process of making the catch" can't apply. He's now going to the ground as a runner.

According to Blandino, if Dez reaches with two hands, or extends his arm toward the goal line, those are football moves and the catch process is complete before he goes to the ground. Many of the people who debate the call don't understand this fact.

The thing is, Dez DID extend the ball toward the goal line, but not "enough" to suit Blandino. That, in his mind, equals "indisputable". The only place that that opinion was "indisputable", was in blandino's head. And really, I don't think it was indisputable in his head. He was trying to show his "impartiality" after the party bus/Lions game issues.

 

[percyhoward]

For the life of me I don't get how anyone can't understand the way rules are written. Going to the ground only matters if the 3 part process is not completed BEFORE YOU CONTACT THE GROUND AND NOT BEFORE YOU START GOING TO THE GROUND.

If people would think about it for two minutes, they'd realize that it would be impossible to determine the point when a player starts to go to the ground anyway.

 

[mahoneybill]

Excellent. Send it to NFL Network and dare them to invite Blandino on to explain this.