NFL considering change to catch rule

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla.

That’s a catch.

Mention the names Calvin Johnson, Dez Bryant, Zach Miller and Jesse James, and what looked, sounded and felt like a catch wasn’t one. If NFL owners pass a proposal from the powerful competition committee, those will be receptions in the future.

According to committee chairman Rich McKay and league officiating director Al Riveron, it’s time.

“We want to take these great catches and make them into catches,” Riveron said Monday at the NFL meetings, where the owners likely will vote today on the adjustments to the catch rule.

Such phrases as “slight movement of the ball” and “surviving the ground” will disappear, and fans, players and coaches will get the fulfilment of knowing what they were sure was a reception actually is.

The committee looked at dozens of plays dozens of times. They discovered that the previous attempts to clarify what is a catch only confused the issue. So much so that the language of the rules was getting in the way of making the proper call.

“Every time, we tried to add language to cure a situation,” said McKay, president of the Atlanta Falcons “and that did not serve us well.”