For the second time in three years, the NFL is proposing new guidelines for what constitutes a catch.
Here’s the proposal, which will be discussed at next week’s NFL Annual Meeting:
The NFL removed the “football move” language three years ago, but it didn’t really wind up fixing anything. Now it’s back.
Here’s the language on the tweak adopted in 2015:
“In order to complete a catch, a receiver must clearly become a runner. He does that by gaining control of the ball, touching both feet down and then, after the second foot is down, having the ball long enough to clearly become a runner, which is defined as the ability to ward off or protect himself from impending contact. If, before becoming a runner, a receiver falls to the ground in an attempt to make a catch, he must maintain control of the ball after contacting the ground. If he loses control of the ball after contacting the ground and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. Reaching the ball out before becoming a runner will not trump the requirement to hold onto the ball when you land. When you are attempting to complete a catch, you must put the ball away or protect the ball so it does not come loose.”
And this is from the NFL’s official rulebook:
“ARTICLE 3. COMPLETED OR INTERCEPTED PASS. A player who makes a catch may advance the ball. A forward pass is complete (by the offense) or intercepted (by the defense) if a player, who is inbounds:
(a) secures control of the ball in his hands or arms prior to the ball touching the ground; and
(b) touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands; and
(c) maintains control of the ball after (a) and (b) have been fulfilled, until he has the ball long enough to clearly become a runner. A player has the ball long enough to become a runner when, after his second foot is on the ground, he is capable of avoiding or warding off impending contact of an opponent, tucking the ball away, turning up field, or taking additional steps (see 3-2-7-Item 2).
Note: If a player has control of the ball, a slight movement of the ball will not be considered a loss of possession. He must lose control of the ball in order to rule that there has been a loss of possession.
If the player loses the ball while simultaneously touching both feet or any part of his body to the ground, it is not a catch.”
The 2018 proposal tweeted out by Al Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, says nothing about maintaining control of the ball while going to the ground, which is one of the main points of contention with the current rule.
Riveron later tweeted, however, under the new rule the controversial play at the end of the New England Patriots’ Week 15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers would have been a catch rather than an incompletion.
The language “or the ability to perform such an act” is vague enough that seems any given catch still will be up to the discretion of the game field official, or Riveron, who reviews plays at the NFL offices in New York.
So, basically, we look forward to another catch rule proposal in another three years.
