[rulesmaven]

The nfl rulebook is very difficult to find. I think the rule might be 3-7, but I don't have the rulebook in front of me. That just seems to stick out in my memory from the discussion after the Troy Palamalu situation.

Football is not my sport, but I thought I remember hearing about some clarifications for precisely this issue. As noted already in this thread, the rules (interpretations?) were changed to be more possession friendly -- that is, to maintain possession for the receiving team and avoid difficult gray area fumble/not fumble situations. That, of course, is the irony of last night. The rule that was invoked to make it an incomplete pass was one intended to protect the offense and avoid calling a fumble, but since the ball went out of bounds (instead of in the hands of a defender) the rule worked against the offensive team.

Anyway, as I thought I understood what was being discussed after the rule changes, there are two situations -- first is where the player establishes a legal catch before a tackle starts and the second is where the tackle is in progress before the catch has been established. Not sure if I'm saying that right, but essentially, if the player possesses the ball and establishes both feet in bounds, and then makes the infamaous "football move," it's a catch, and a subsequent loss of posession before the end of the play will be a fumble. The caveat, though, is where a player on the other team begins a tackle before the catch is established. In this second situation, the player needs to maintain control throughout, down to the ground.

Seems like Belichick knew the rule and quickly reminded the official on the spot, and it was upheld.

Or I'm crazy and just misremembering all this and it was a questionable call.