NFL Catch Rule vs. NCAA & NFHS

[bisonlj]

I'm surprised to see people struggle with understanding what is meant by "going to the ground as part of completing the catch". When I first heard about this play I figured there would be some uncertainty over whether he made a move before lunging for the end zone. When I finally I saw I was surprised how obvious he was going to the ground the entire time. That is one thing that is not in question at all. Because of that, none of the other actions matter. You can make arguments over whether or not the ball hit the ground when it was loose or if there is enough evidence to obviously overturn the call on the field, but neither are horrible calls. They are just calls and someone paid to make that decision made an unbiased decision.

Someone commented the NFL has made the catch rule too complicated. I would argue they have greatly simplified it. This play is a great example. Very simple...go to the ground, maintain control, catch. Without that you have all kinds of subjective decisions to make on this play.

If you really want a play like this to be a TD you need to remove catch/no catch from replay. I agree to the naked eye in real time on the field, this was a catch. Thanks to technical rules and HD cameras with multiple angles, the bobble is detected and this becomes an incomplete pass. You have to accept that decision if you are going to have replay.