The NFL's Official Change to What Is A Catch: Dez Bryant play rule rewritten *merge*

[Section446]

Based on the way the rules, it wasn't a catch, just move on.

 

[KJJ]

Let's see how many pages this goes.

 

[DallasEast]

I sense the presence of a moderator. A moderator who will merge this thread into...​

 

[Kevinicus]

So...if he was "going to the ground" after the point that he had 2 feet down (with control), wouldn't his "initial contact with the ground" be his foot on his 3rd step? I don't think anyone would argue that he held onto the ball well after that.

 

[casmith07]

Ridiculous rule. Should be the following:

Catch - possession of the football with two feet down in bounds. If the player loses control after that, it is down at the point the ball was fumbled (ground cannot cause a fumble) or it is a fumble if the player was contacted.

Anything else is not a catch. It's not freaking hard, but they're making it hard.

 

[Direwolf63]

Based on the way the rules, it wasn't a catch, just move on.

Forget the rule for a minute. What do your eyes tell you?

I know a catch when I see one. And Dez caught that ball. And the rules should reflect what clearly are catches. Receivers should be rewarded for making great plays, not screwed over by ridiculous technicalities.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

the ball did not hit the ground

Incorrect.

Yeah, it did. C'mon, that argument has always been silly.

But he had three feet down, made a clear football move, and the league has admitted that if he had broken the plane, it would have been a touchdown.

Had it been the Packers........? I wonder.

Correct.

Correct.

I wonder too. (Actually, I think they leave call for them)

Based on the way the rules, it wasn't a catch, just move on.

Correct.

 

[percyhoward]

It's not freaking hard, but they're making it hard.

By making the rule as vague as possible, they're making it easier for Blandino to explain the next call he pulls out of his butt.

This was ruled a catch in 2013. Under the new Dez Bryant Rule, will this be incomplete?

 

[StarBoyz83]

The ball clearly hit the ground. Dez didn't make a football move either. All he did is reach out when he came down its not like he lunged and reached out towards the goal it's just the way he was falling.

People need to stop saying dallas got robbed. I don't know why everybody thinks if we won that game it's an automatic sb win. Who knows if dallas would've beat Seattle or new england. They only beat Seattle by a crazy catch or dallas losses. Dallas didn't play that great in the playoffs who's to say they didn't play worse vs the seahawks.

 

[rynochop]

I understand how many "rule" changes have been associated with boys players.

So this is rule #3 by my count for cowboy player rules, Emmitts helmet rule, Roy williams horse collar, now this. Im probably missing a couple

 

[Plumfool]

I've seen this game while waiting for a NYC subway. Lost $20 bucks.

 

[BlindFaith]

This is the NFL pulling the old "bait and switch."

Blandino at the league meeting in March: “I don’t think there’s a difference. I think it’s an effort to just make it easier to understand … I don’t think the standard changes. I think the way we’re communicating the standard has changed.”

They had advertised that the Dez play would not prompt any rule changes -- just a rewording of the rule. Then when the season comes around, we find out that they really have changed the rule after all. This amounts to admission of guilt on Blandino's part, because on January 11, he applied a rule that didn't exist yet.

The rule was understood to mean this already by many, myself included. He was going to the ground. He NEVER makes a football move.

Do I think it was a catch? Yes, but not according to how the rule was, and still is, written.

 

[AbeBeta]

It was incomplete.

Regardless if it wasn't, we are crying about an issue that shouldn't have happened. Romo trying to Force it to Dez in a desperate attempt, shouldn't have happened. Blame the Bum Murray for his fumble in the first place on what looked to be a promising drive.

Then T-Will not being able to beat his single coverage.

We were doomed from the start.

This is true. Even before the call, the ref in the booth was explaining to Aikman and Buck exactly why the call would be overturned. The call was consistent with the rule. It sucks that it is but some of y'all need to stop crying and move on

 

[percyhoward]

He NEVER makes a football move.

A player who puts the ball in one hand isn't still trying to catch it, obviously. It's been caught, and he's trying to advance it -- an act quite common to the game.

Do I think it was a catch? Yes, but not according to how the rule was, and still is, written.

Then what was the point of changing the rule?

 

[SultanOfSix]

Shocking. Another vague phrase - "upright long enough" - that can be furthered interpreted to be screwed up by the officials who have shown such competency in interpreting rules before.

Also, I fail to see how this would make the overturn the right call if this rule was in play.

"If he loses control of the ball and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. If he regains control prior to the ball touching the ground, the pass is complete."

Dez clearly had control going to the ground. He is touched, and hence tackled by the defender, and then the ball comes out after he hits the ground. Hence, down by contact.

This rule change doesn't solve anything.

 

[percyhoward]

So...if he was "going to the ground" after the point that he had 2 feet down (with control), wouldn't his "initial contact with the ground" be his foot on his 3rd step? I don't think anyone would argue that he held onto the ball well after that.

That's if there is still such a thing as the catch process.

By requiring that the player be "upright long enough" they seem to be throwing the entire catch process out the window.

 

[xwalker]

The ball clearly hit the ground. Dez didn't make a football move either. All he did is reach out when he came down its not like he lunged and reached out towards the goal it's just the way he was falling.

People need to stop saying dallas got robbed. I don't know why everybody thinks if we won that game it's an automatic sb win. Who knows if dallas would've beat Seattle or new england. They only beat Seattle by a crazy catch or dallas losses. Dallas didn't play that great in the playoffs who's to say they didn't play worse vs the seahawks.

Dez took 2 full steps (i. e. 3 feet down).

If he took 10 steps it would not matter what happened when he went to the ground. Why does it matter after 2 steps?

On the controversial Calvin Johnson non-catch, he only had 1 foot down so they had to reference the rule on going to the ground.

 

[Garrettop]

I like how Blandino walked back a little recently....and then the wording was changed. But Cowboys fans are just being homers about the whole thing. I agree that whining about it fixes nothing, and that hopefully the team uses it for some motivation. But that doesn't mean one is a homer for disagreeing with the call.

 

[WhizKid]

Maybe if Dez had a deflated ball he would have held on. Lol

 

[percyhoward]

Dez took 2 full steps (i. e. 3 feet down).

If he took 10 steps it would not matter what happened when he went to the ground. Why does it matter after 2 steps?

In 2014, it didn't matter. Under the Dez Bryant rule of 2015, he still hasn't caught it, even after control and two steps, because he hasn't been "upright long enough" at that point.

This is the rule change that they told us wasn't going to happen, because they said it wasn't needed, as the overturn was consistent with the rule that was already in place, we were assured.

Over and over.