Are you ready for some NFL Football? 2014 Edition.

[David in FL]

[COLOR=FF00AA][/COLOR][quote name="phan52" url="/t/76052/are-you-ready-for-some-nfl-football-2014-edition/918#post_1093895"] BS. He had the ball secure from the second it touched his hands.. [/quote] Huh? Did you even see the play? And again, I was surprised that it was overturned...Though I admit to having had the same relatively poor understanding of the entire rule as a lot of others do too.

[boogielicious]

He failed on C.

Quote:

Originally Posted by boogielicious

Your JMO is incorrect.  If falling to the ground is a move "common to the game" then you would be correct.  But it is not.  Simple.

He took three steps and lunged for the goal line. If that isn't a football move, I don't know what is. And BTW, I am glad they changed it. I can't stand Dez Bryant. But they got screwed.

He did not.  He caught the ball, took a step and bobbled the ball double clutching to gain control back.  By the time he got control, he was on his way down to the ground.  Mike Pereira went through it step be step.  He was never officially a runner.  Dean Blandino also stated this unequivocally.  He was never a runner so down by contact does not apply.  By the time he gained control, he was falling to the ground and did not maintain control through the process of the catch.  Not a catch.

[phan52]

Huh?

Did you even see the play? And again, I was surprised that it was overturned...Though I admit to having had the same relatively poor understanding of the entire rule as a lot of others do too.

Read the entire rule. He met the criteria for a catch. It is all in the interpretation on whether he made a move "common to the game". The ref says he was going to the ground. I see a guy taking three steps and lunging for the goal line. That is a move "common to the game".

[David in FL]

Read the entire rule. He met the criteria for a catch. It is all in the interpretation on whether he made a move "common to the game". The ref says he was going to the ground. I see a guy taking three steps and lunging for the goal line. That is a move "common to the game".

Watch the video. He was clearly bobbling the ball during those "3 steps". I can't remember anyone, not even his supporters that question that....

[boogielicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phan52

Read the entire rule. He met the criteria for a catch. It is all in the interpretation on whether he made a move "common to the game". The ref says he was going to the ground. I see a guy taking three steps and lunging for the goal line. That is a move "common to the game".

Watch the video. He was clearly bobbling the ball during those "3 steps". I can't remember anyone, not even his supporters that question that....

+1

[Golfingdad]

Read the entire rule. He met the criteria for a catch. It is all in the interpretation on whether he made a move "common to the game". The ref says he was going to the ground. I see a guy taking three steps and lunging for the goal line. That is a move "common to the game".

But you're incorrectly basing this on the fact that he "had control from the moment that the ball touched his hands." You can't start counting the steps and moves until AFTER he has full control. Which, according to the rule, he never actually does.

[CarlSpackler]

Watch the video. He was clearly bobbling the ball during those "3 steps". I can't remember anyone, not even his supporters that question that....

We have catch...

We have loss of control...

If not for this, I think they would have given it to him.

[Slice of Life]

We have catch...

We have loss of control...

If not for this, I think they would have given it to him.

Much better angle of what I posted. To say he secured the ball as soon as it touched his hands is 100% false.

[CarlSpackler]

Much better angle of what I posted. To say he secured the ball as soon as it touched his hands is 100% false.

Yep. I think it looks much more evident from the face on view. Dez made one heck of a play for sure as did the GB player who got just enough of a finger on it to jostle it loose.

Edit: ..and that was one heck of a throw by Romo. Yes. I said it.

[Golfingdad]

We have catch...

We have loss of control...

If not for this, I think they would have given it to him.

Much better angle of what I posted. To say he secured the ball as soon as it touched his hands is 100% false.

Good screen grab.  You agree that he doesn't have control in that second frame, right @phan52 ?

[saevel25]

We have loss of control...

If not for this, I think they would have given it to him.

In terms of timeline, he regains control, plants his left foot and lunges for the goal line. Here is your image from the backside.

Here he has control with both hands. Right foot is on the ground.

Left foot on the ground, plants it and lunges, still has control of the ball.

[Slice of Life]

In terms of timeline, he regains control, plants his left foot and lunges for the goal line. Here is your image from the backside.

Here he has control with both hands. Right foot is on the ground.

Left foot on the ground, plants it and lunges, still has control of the ball.

Yep. And as soon as his right foot comes down (top pic) he's stumbling. The stumble and fall are connected in one move, simultaneous with gaining control of the ball.

Incomplete.

[Golfingdad]

Here are a couple of really high quality GIF's of the play:

http://www.gfycat.com/InsecureExemplaryCockerspaniel

http://www.gfycat.com/BriskHandsomeGrasshopper

And here is a video of Calvin Johnson's play that gave the rule its nickname (which, for the record was called incomplete on the field):

http://imgur.com/Wy3egKN

And if anybody cares to waste time reading others argue about this elsewhere, here's where I found all of this: http://www.reddit.com/r/sports/comments/2s3fvh/dez_bryants_overturned_catch_during/

Enjoy.

[saevel25]

Yep. And as soon as his right foot comes down (top pic) he's stumbling. The stumble and fall are connected in one move, simultaneous with gaining control of the ball.

Incomplete.

You say stumble, I say regains balance enough to lunge towards the endzone. He clearly had possession of the ball before making that move.

Complete pass

[Slice of Life]

You say stumble, I say regains balance enough to lunge towards the endzone. He clearly had possession of the ball before making that move.

Complete pass

Anyone who's ever caught a pass like that in real life would refer to it as a stumble. If he wasn't stumbling, he would have rumbled into the end zone and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[Golfingdad]

You say stumble, I say regains balance enough to lunge towards the endzone. He clearly had possession of the ball before making that move.

Complete pass

LOL ... are we all supposed to sign off each of our posts in this thread with our opinion on the play?  I like it ... this way nobody will get confused.

I will say this for you , though ... in the close up GIF I posted (second one), I find it pretty easy to see him reaching for the goal line.

Incomplete pass

[phan52]

Good screen grab.  You agree that he doesn't have control in that second frame, right @phan52 ?

When his foot touches the ground for the first time, he has secured the football. He then takes two MORE steps and lunges which, to any rational person, constitutes a football move "common to the game". The ref decided that instead of making a football move, he was going to the ground. Fine. I don't blame the ref, I blame the rules. The rules as written are ambiguous. The ground cannot cause a fumble in one interpretation (football move and down by contact, which is what I see), yet the ground can cause an incompletion in another (the legal cop out).

After the game they kept referring to the Calvin Johnson play. Yet, if THAT was not a catch there is something really wrong with the rules.

That was a catch. It's like porn, you know it when you see it.

[CarlSpackler]

Originally Posted by saevel25

Left foot on the ground, plants it and lunges, still has control of the ball.

In your last pic, it doesn't appear that he has control of the ball again. The ball appears to be cradled, but it is not firmly controlled IMO.

Clearly, Dallas fans are going to argue this call to their death bed, but just like last week's call, it's done and over with. The refs giveth, and the refs taketh away. That's why I don't put much credibility in sports these days.