04/19/24
January 18, 2015
SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
The NFL Pick 'Em contest post is here, posted on Friday.
posted by rcade at 12:57 PM on January 18, 2015
A writer on Bleacher Report finds a play where Dez Bryant made the exact same moves as last week and it was called a catch on replay.
I'm blinded by bitter, bitter tears, but putting your hand down so you can kick out your legs and dive for the end zone should be considered a football move.
posted by rcade at 02:52 PM on January 18, 2015
I would say that the difference between those two plays is that Bryant is being tackled by Amukamara in the older play (and could have otherwise continued running) while in last week's play, Bryant was going down to the ground while making the catch (and not in any way being tackled). If you go to the ground while making a catch, you have to come up with the ball.
posted by bender at 03:32 PM on January 18, 2015
Not if you made a football move after the catch. Losing the ball would then be considered a fumble.
posted by rcade at 03:40 PM on January 18, 2015
Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3, Item 1: Player Going to the Ground:
If a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass (with or without contact by an opponent), he must maintain control of the ball throughout the process of contacting the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. 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.
I don't see where it matters whether or not he made a football move, as he was going to the ground while catching the ball.
posted by bender at 10:14 PM on January 18, 2015
...in the act of catching a pass... is the operative phrase. If the receiver has taken control of the ball and begun to attempt to advance, he is no longer in the act of catching a pass. Where the problem lay in the Green Bay vs Dallas game was that Bryant was deemed not to have taken and maintained control, even though he was attempting to advance. I do not agree with that interpretation. It sure looked to these eyeballs that he caught the ball, had it in one hand securely, took a step toward the end zone, and then dove forward attempting to reach the goal line. The rule as written stinks and needs a lot clearer language to determine what is and is not a catch, what is and what is not control, and forget all about football moves.
posted by Howard_T at 11:29 PM on January 18, 2015
I have no objection to changing the rule, and I agree the Dez Bryant made a great play and it sucks that he was not awarded a catch for it. He may have been attempting to advance the ball, but his attempt to catch the pass was the reason that he ultimately hit the ground. His lunge toward the goal line does not change the fact that he was going to hit the ground anyway. *Perhaps* there's an argument to be made if he was being tackled, but he was not.
He went up to catch the ball, and that action resulted in him on the ground with the ball, at which time it was jostled loose when it hit the ground. Per the language I quoted above, that is not a catch.
posted by bender at 03:03 PM on January 19, 2015
If the receiver has taken control of the ball and begun to attempt to advance, he is no longer in the act of catching a pass.
Exactly. Refs decide when a receiver is done catching the pass, so any drop after that point would be a fumble instead of an incompletion.
You're not reading the rule correctly, Bender. The reason a football move matters is because such a move is the dividing line between an incompletion and a fumble.
Dean Blandino, the NFL officiating exec who made the call on the play with referee Gene Steratore, acknowledges that it matters whether Bryant made a football move. Here's his quote:
"We looked at that aspect of it, and in order for it to be a football move, it's got to be more obvious than that, reaching the ball out with both hands, extending it for the goal line. That is all part of, in our view, all part of his momentum in going to the ground, and he lost the ball when he hit the ground. That, in our view, made it incomplete, and we feel like it's a consistent application of the rule as it has been written over the last couple of years."
posted by rcade at 04:11 PM on January 19, 2015
Daniel Carcillo's up to his old tricks again.