The NFL has gone ahead and done it again. That "It" you ask, is make every football fan in the world scratch their heads in disgust. In a move almost as exciting as the recent Cleveland Browns logo change, the NFL has decided to move forward in changing the "process of the catch" rule that all Football fans know and love.
The change is more of a change in wording than actually changing the rule. The new wording states that the catcher has to make a move that considers them a runner. This is instead of the rule stating that the catcher must make a "football move" in order to be considered down upon hitting the ground. All this says to me is that the NFL is more concerned in making the rule foggier than making the rule clear. Does this now make red-zone targets that are falling to the ground with the ball void? Does this now mean that if you catch the ball and switch it to your left hand and reach for the end zone, it's still not a catch? Or maybe this just means the NFL is the NFL and are continuing to do what they always do which is ruin the game that we will continue to love and watch no matter what (admit it).
So with more questions we still have one answer from the NFL. The Dez Bryant catch is still not a catch. The reasoning behind the change is to clarify the rule so it can be more consistent. Dean Blandino the NFL's Vice President of officiating has said just that by stating, "What is, what isn't a football move. We're not talking about a lot
of plays over the course of the five seasons since the Calvin Johnson play.
This allows us to consistently officiate the rule." Basically saying that somehow this change makes the rule less confusing. In my mind it has changed confusion for dizziness or maybe a concussion or two! Jeff Fisher the St. Louis Rams Head Coach as well as co-chairman of the competition committee has chimed in as well saying "If
you're going to the ground, hang on to the ball. It's really pretty
simple," Fisher said. "To include if you become a runner, I think it
really cleans things up for us. If you start talking about reaching the ball
out, you invite a lot of gray area back into the interpretation."
At the end of the day the NFL is still the NFL and the rule is still the rule. If you ask ten officials you will get ten different answers and it still seems like Dez Bryant never caught a ball that was clearly caught.
