Carolina vs New England last play

Originally Posted by bcl1127

The official NFL rule book contains only one reference to the term “uncatchable.” Rule 8, Section 5, Article 3(c) identifies as a permissible act “[c]ontact that would normally be considered pass interference, but the pass is clearly uncatchable by the involved players.”

Yeah I screwed that up. My fault.

Originally Posted by bcl1127

So are you saying any time a pass is intercepted there should never be PI called? The call that all the time. Just because the pass ended in an INT does not negate the restrictions on the offense and defense when the pass is in the air...

Certainly not. Let's say the DB had never been there, and the ball was instead intercepted by the LB covering Gronk. That interception would not stand due to the prior pass interference. In this case however, it is a secondary defender that intercepts the ball before it eve gets near Gronk.

Had this pass been intercepted at the back of the endzone after flying past Gronk, pass interference/holding would have been called and enforced. Had the defender simply tipped the ball instead of catching, pass interference/holding would have been called and enforced. The pass was underthrown and intercepted before it reached Gronk, and based on the judgement of the officials Gronk did not have a chance to contend for the ball, thus rendering it "clearly uncatchable".