Like Dez in Green Bay, James was already a runner by the time he went to the ground. He became a runner by virtue of having completed the 3-part catch process of 1)control, 2)two feet, and 3)a football move. "Going to the ground" only comes into play if those 3 things haven't been done, so it doesn't apply to runners.
In reality, a "runner" is just a player in possession of a live ball. Blandino (intentionally or otherwise) got people thinking that a "runner" had to be a player who was upright and running. To make the rule fit his overturn of Dez's catch retroactively, he tried to make the catch process subordinate to "going to the ground" by adding this phrase to the rule book in 2015:
"A player is considered to be going to the ground if he does not remain upright long enough to demonstrate that he is clearly a runner."
So you then had (and still have) two contradictory statements, both in the rule book, about what defines a "runner."
This created all kinds of confusion in the 2015 season, and so the commissioner appointed a "catch committee" in 2016 to define what a catch was. The catch committee clarified what a football move was by giving some examples (turning up field, taking additional steps, tucking the ball away) to add to the rule, but at that time Blandino was still head of officiating, and his "upright long enough" remained in the book.
Pereira has already admitted that he was wrong to defend Blandino's overturn of Dez's catch. Blandino has been gone for a year. Time for "upright long enough" to be stricken from the book. It was only put in as an attempt to save face by a guy who'd made a mistake.
It's also time for Riveron to step down or learn once and for all that the football move is the "clear and bright line" that provides the time element after control and two feet down to determine completion of the catch process, so that he doesn't have to wonder how long is "long enough," or worry about how upright is upright.
