The NFL says the catch rule is clear. The problem is that the way it gets enforced often is not.
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According to Mark Maske of The Washington Post, the league and its Competition Committee do not plan to make major changes to the rule this offseason. Officials reportedly believe the standard is "pretty clear," though teams could still propose tweaks. The league may instead focus on improving communication and public understanding of in-game rulings.
That misses the real issue, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The rule itself is not the mess. The application is.
One ongoing problem is how the league treats the "third step" concept, often treating it as the only way to complete a catch while downplaying other valid criteria such as extending the ball, bracing for contact or maintaining possession long enough to perform a football move.
As Florio opines, another issue is the lack of consistency between rulings, highlighted by the contrast between an Aaron Rodgers completion in December and a recent overturned catch involving Brandin Cooks.
Replay has become another sore spot. As Kyle Brandt recently put it, the process can feel opaque and overly scripted, with more emphasis on defending outcomes than explaining them.
NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth previously justified flipping an interception to a catch in a Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens game by citing possession through contact and down by contact rules. If that same logic had been applied consistently, it could have altered how the Cooks play was ruled.
The unresolved question is simple. When a receiver is going to the ground after contact, does the play end when the knee hits or only after continued possession through the fall.
Fixing that would require admitting at least one past ruling was wrong. The league has shown little appetite for that.
So yes, the rule may be fine. The way it is enforced remains anything but.
