The NFL Catches and Credibility

[T-RO]

The pass is complete...or it's incomplete.

Can you as a fan explain the current NFL rule for what is a catch and what degree of possession is insufficient? Can any of your buddies?

Have you noticed that the announcers who study the game...can't tell? Even the officials themselves can't seem to agree.

In the Packer game right after the Cole catch the broadcast team bounced over to Mike Pereira...the president of officiating ...and the guy starts to say Cole's catch would be overturned...that it wasn't a completed pass. Of course...that conversation stopped abruptly when the play was rightly upheld.

This play wasn't on the sidelines. It wasn't obscured. Cameras had a clear view. It wasn't in anyway an unusual play. We see that kind of thing all the time on the goal line.

And this has been going on for years now. The league has refused to simplify it, or fix it. The NFL could go back to the old rules, which everyone understood and which made total sense...but they refuse to.

Fans hate it. Players hate it. Coaches hate it. Announcers hate it. The rule is mush and there's no reason for it at all.

I'm open to other possibilities, but the only only conclusion I can come to is that the league wants the rule to stay foggy....that it gives them an opportunities for the League to engineer results that benefit their ratings or even somebody's pocket.

 

[percyhoward]

So far anyway, it's been a lot better than last year. The league got a group of experts together (former pro wide receivers and tight ends) who basically decided to go back to the old rule that was in place before Blandino changed it. In short, they brought the football move back in order to determine when a receiver becomes a runner.

 

[T-RO]

I don't see it as better at all nor see any change. Cole had taken control of the ball, taken several steps and even broke the plane of the end zone. Yet Pereira was starting to argue the play should be over-ruled.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Can you as a fan explain the current NFL rule for what is a catch and what degree of possession is insufficient? Can any of your buddies?

Are you kidding? Almost every NFL game I watch what I think is a catch but only to be determinded not to be a catch and vice versa. It's a complete joke. I stopped trying to figure it out and just live by what the refs say. Life is less stressful that way.

 

[T-RO]

Are you kidding? Almost every NFL game I watch what I think is a catch but only to be determinded not to be a catch and vice versa. It's a complete joke. I stopped trying to figure it out and just live by what the refs say. Life is less stressful that way.

True...It is a joke! But it's worse than refs not seeing something...about them being human and making mistakes.

The fact that you have "stopped trying to figure it out" goes to prove how insane it is.

The league is quite happy with rules that make sense to no one. They can then call whatever they damn please from the booth.

 

[percyhoward]

I don't see it as better at all nor see any change.

Before Blandino's rule change, you used to need control, two feet, and a football move. After the Dez fiasco, the 2015 rule required control, two feet, and staying "upright long enough" to become a runner. It was clear last year that the officials on the field had different ideas about how long was "long enough." Changing the rule back has made it easier for officials on the field by reinstating the observable standard of the football move. Now they're back to not having to guess, because when they see the football move, they know it's long enough.

Not perfect by any means, as confusion over what constitutes a catch has gone on for years. But last year was a mess.

 

[JDSmith]

I don't see it as better at all nor see any change. Cole had taken control of the ball, taken several steps and even broke the plane of the end zone. Yet Pereira was starting to argue the play should be over-ruled.

But Perreira was wrong. I don't care what he says, I care what happens on the field and how they officially rule it - his blathering doesn't change the score. They got it right.

 

[Joe Realist]

So far anyway, it's been a lot better than last year. The league got a group of experts together (former pro wide receivers and tight ends) who basically decided to go back to the old rule that was in place before Blandino changed it. In short, they brought the football move back in order to determine when a receiver becomes a runner.

your sig picture is a great 'caption this'

 

[T-RO]

But Perreira was wrong. I don't care what he says, I care what happens on the field and how they officially rule it - his blathering doesn't change the score. They got it right.

If the head of officials can stare right at that play and grossly screw it up after multiple viewings... There's still a huge problem with this rule and we aren't any further along since Dez's catch in Green Bay.

 

[Doomsday]

I have to admit I really don't have a clue what is a catch and not any more and I watch 4 or 5 games a week. lol

 

[T-RO]

...Now they're back to not having to guess, because when they see the football move, they know it's long enough. .

News flash: officials are still guessing...even w/benefit of replay.

For decades the rule worked just fine and even your Aunt Mary...a casual fan could pick up on the rule and understand it.

 

[drawandstrike]

If the head of officials can stare right at that play and grossly screw it up after multiple viewings... There's still a huge problem with this rule and we aren't any further along since Dez's catch in Green Bay.

Perirara himself used to state once the player with possession of the football gets the ball over the plane of the goal line, a TD is scored and the ball becomes dead.

If the player subsequently lands in the end zone and the ball pops loose, since it's a dead ball it doesn't matter.

What changed is the 'process of the catch' since Dez's non-catch in GB. There was confusion among officials about how long you hold the ball, what is a 'football move', etc. and this is leading to wide variation in calls on the field during the games.

The official in our game decided Beasley had possession of the ball long enough, and his turning and diving into the end zone constituted a football move.

 

[T-RO]

Are you kidding? Almost every NFL game I watch what I think is a catch but only to be determinded not to be a catch and vice versa....

I have to admit I really don't have a clue what is a catch and not any more and I watch 4 or 5 games a week. lol

Mike Pereira Monday Oct 16, 2016: "It is a confusing rule"l

 

[percyhoward]

News flash: officials are still guessing...even w/benefit of replay.

Imagine how much guessing was going on last year when there was nothing observable to base the call on.

 

[T-RO]

I build technology. I've learned that if there is user confusion it's my job to make it simple. If there is confusion...it's my fault.

The league had a perfectly good rule that nobody was complaining about. It worked fine. Then they made it 100x more bizarre and now years later they keep mucking it up. They could easily go back to the old rules.

Any thoughtful person asks why.

 

[percyhoward]

The official in our game decided Beasley had possession of the ball long enough, and his turning and diving into the end zone constituted a football move.

Beez reached with two hands, which was exactly what Blandino had said Dez needed to do to satisfy the requirement of the football move.

Blandino Jan 2015: "The football move has got to be more obvious than that -- reaching the ball out with both hands, extending it for the goal line.”

Of course, there never was any such rule that you had to reach with two hands, but there's no way they were going to overturn Beasley's catch after he demonstrated exactly what Blandino had said must be done.

 

[ConstantReboot]

Well none of this would be happening if they would have just called the Dez Bryant "non catch" a catch. Now they are having to justify their ruling on every single catch just because of that mess-up by Blandino. There is nothing wrong with the rules. Its the NFL trying to put their own spin on why they called Dez's catch a non-catch and still making excuses on what they did.

Oh yeah, Mike Pereira is an idiot. I'm shocked that this fool was ever in charge of heading the refs for a professional sport. He brings no value whatsoever to professional football.

 

[DanTanna]

Two feet on the ground while not bobbling the ball it is a catch. The ground can't cause a fumble. The impact with the ground should have no bearing on catch status. BOOM FIXED

 

[LocimusPrime]

Perirara himself used to state once the player with possession of the football gets the ball over the plane of the goal line, a TD is scored and the ball becomes dead.

If the player subsequently lands in the end zone and the ball pops loose, since it's a dead ball it doesn't matter.

What changed is the 'process of the catch' since Dez's non-catch in GB. There was confusion among officials about how long you hold the ball, what is a 'football move', etc. and this is leading to wide variation in calls on the field during the games.

The official in our game decided Beasley had possession of the ball long enough, and his turning and diving into the end zone constituted a football move.

Excellent!

 

[JD_KaPow]

In the Packer game right after the Cole catch the broadcast team bounced over to Mike Pereira...the president of officiating ...and the guy starts to say Cole's catch would be overturned...that it wasn't a completed pass. Of course...that conversation stopped abruptly when the play was rightly upheld.

If the head of officials can stare right at that play and grossly screw it up after multiple viewings... There's still a huge problem with this rule and we aren't any further along since Dez's catch in Green Bay.

Pereira isn't the "head of officials" or the "president of officiating." He doesn't work for the NFL, and hasn't for more than 5 years.