The NFL, after painstakingly studying the grey area known as the catch rule, concluded that there isn’t any room for improvement in the rules themselves and that the lack of understanding comes from just that; the fans lack of understanding for the intricacies of the rule. So, as only the NFL can do, they’re going to try to educate fans on the rule.
Do the written rules supersede what the eyes see? That’s what the NFL is trying to tell its fans, and it’s not going to keep the hounds at bay for long. League executive VP Troy Vincent talked with ESPN about the rule, and the lack of clarification this offseason.
“We’re at a good place,” Vincent said, “and we have to keep applying the rule and keep educating our partners and the public and our fans.”
Rich McKay, co-chair of the competition committee, agreed with Vincent.
“You’ve got to remember that there are over 18,000 passing plays a year,” McKay said. “That’s how many that we get in a year. That’s 5,000 more than in 1990. We do end up with, let’s say it’s a group of four plays, maybe it’s a group of six, in which you look at it frame-by-frame and say, ‘Maybe he got that wrong.’ But in reality, the on-field official is officiating an awful lot of passes every game and getting them right.”
Most pass plays are officiated without any debate or qualms. But its those few, such as the Calvin Johnson play in 2010 against the Bears or the Dez Bryant catch in the 2014 playoffs against the Packers that riles up ire about the rules like nothing else. 99% of the time the rules are clear as crystal, but that 1% when they aren’t can decide seasons.
Even Mike McCarthy, an NFL head coach, has given up. He said in January he doesn’t know what a catch is anymore, and if an NFL Head Coach doesn’t have a clue, how is the average fan on any given couch in America going to be able to decipher the word salad of the catch rule?
The NFL could easily fix some of these problems by streamlining basic aspects of the written rules, or just have a replay official watching an HD feed of the game as its happening, and radio down to the lead referee if a blatant mistake was made like is done in the CFL. The grey area means what would normally be incomplete passes could now become fumbles, fumbles become catches, catches become incomplete passes, players who need protection from helmet to helmet hits now won’t get it, and so on and so forth.
Instead of taking ownership of the grey area and trying to work to make things clearer for players, coaches, broadcasters and fans, the league has said it’s the public who doesn’t understand the rule, and we can only try to educate you on it.
So when the next controversial catch or no catch play happens, remember: it’s your fault for not understanding the rules. Don’t blame the NFL.
[ESPN]
