knapplc
International Man of Mystery
The rule is that he has to maintain possession all the way through "the act of catching." Basically what happened was that CJ fell as he caught the ball, and since he fell, he has to maintain possession throughout the completion of the fall - the "act" he was doing while catching. Since he was still falling when the ball left his hand, they consider that to not be a catch. It's a similar ruling for Meno Holt's "non-catch" against VT last year.
The problem is that CJ clearly had possession of the ball with both hands. He clearly had both feet down. He was "further" down - with possession - when his left leg/hip hit the ground. He still had possession when he let go of the ball with his right hand while falling, consciously holding it with his left hand alone.
This rule says that even though all of that is true, he didn't "catch" the ball because of a technicality, a circumstance with nothing to do with the act of catching. It's a stupid rule that the Competition Committee has got to address in the offseason. That was as much a catch as any other in this week's games.
This has not always been the way the NFL looked at a catch. Does anyone know when this rule changed? It has to have been in the last year or two.
The problem is that CJ clearly had possession of the ball with both hands. He clearly had both feet down. He was "further" down - with possession - when his left leg/hip hit the ground. He still had possession when he let go of the ball with his right hand while falling, consciously holding it with his left hand alone.
This rule says that even though all of that is true, he didn't "catch" the ball because of a technicality, a circumstance with nothing to do with the act of catching. It's a stupid rule that the Competition Committee has got to address in the offseason. That was as much a catch as any other in this week's games.
This has not always been the way the NFL looked at a catch. Does anyone know when this rule changed? It has to have been in the last year or two.
