NFL owners pass revision of catch rule
Patriots' Bill Belichick talks to the media Tuesday at the coaches' breakfast during the NFL owners' meetings. Credit: AP / Phelan M. Ebenhack
ORLANDO, Fla. — What’s a catch? The NFL is hopeful a rules change will make it easier to figure it out.
League owners voted, 32-0, Tuesday to make significant changes to the catch rule, responding to criticism over a handful of controversial plays in recent years.
The new rule no longer requires a player to “survive the ground” by maintaining possession throughout the process of catching the ball. Instead, a player must control the ball, have two feet or another body part land inbounds and then make a football move. A football move can be a third step or an extension of the ball.
The league’s competition committee recommended the change after reviewing several catches that were overturned, including a play last season in which Steelers tight end Jesse James appeared to score what would have been the go-ahead touchdown late in a game against the Patriots. James made the catch, but the ball hit the ground and moved slightly after he tried to extend it into the end zone.
Had the newly revised rule been in place, James’ play would have been ruled a catch. Two other famous apparent receptions that were overturned — by the Cowboys’ Dez Bryant and former Lion Calvin Johnson — also would have been upheld.
Owners passed a measure that will assess a 15-yard penalty if any player anywhere on the field lowers his head to initiate contact, and he also can be ejected. No longer can a running back lower his head inside the tackle box to initiate contact, which previously was allowed. The measure was passed as a way to reduce the incidence of headfirst collisions.
“For us this is a pretty significant change,” competition committee chairman Rich McKay said. “This one technique, we saw so many hits when a player lowered his head and delivered a hit and either hurt himself or the player he was hitting. It was time for a change of this magnitude. This is simply if you lower your head to initiate contact and you make contact with an opponent, it’s a foul.”
Owners also approved a measure permanently spotting the ball at the 25-yard line after a touchback on a kickoff. The league also adopted a rule allowing a designated member of the officiating department to tell officials that a player should be ejected for a flagrant non-football act when a penalty is called on the play.
They did not vote on a measure that would have changed defensive pass interference from a spot foul to a 15-yard penalty. The proposal, initially made by the Jets, was withdrawn Monday. The competition committee did not support the idea.
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
More football news
