The NFL Rules and How to Interpret This Weekend's Controversial Calls.
On Sunday we had two interesting calls that drastically changed the outcomes of games. In the first game, a 4:15 game on the east coast you had the Pittsburgh Steelers seemingly regain the lead from the New England Patriots. However after further review the player was overturned because TE Jesse James bobbled the ball in the end zone. Check video below. The first one that showed up on google. Tony Romo was pretty quick to point this out. But catches like this that get review happen every week. It is something that happens. ESPN's Max Kellerman said on First Take that the referees had a fundamental misunderstanding of their own rule.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18GWrZLOpAA
Then in the Oakland Raiders VS Dallas Cowboys we had an interesting call late in the game on a first down. The referees couldn't determine that Dallas got the first down. So they pulled out a folded index card. Normally instead of index cards we have two polls with linked chains that measure to see if there is a first down on the applicable play. See this happening below. This is the first time I remember something like this happen in my lifetime. Chris Collinsworth said he had never seen this on Sunday Night Football.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4hnFIAzjok
Both videos contain full audio from the announce teams. You can get a lot of good information just by listening to the commentary. You can learn a lot. The first thing we are going to do is visit the NFL rulebook and see what exactly is a catch in the Pittsburgh Steelers VS New England Patriots game which will likely determine homefield division in the AFC.
https://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/nfl-video-rulebook/completing-a-catch/
According to the NFL's rulebook a catch needs three things to happen in order to be deemed as such.
1) Secure the ball in hands or arms prior to the ball touching the ground.
2) Touches the ground in bounds with both feet or any part of his body other than his hands.
3) Maintains control of the ball after (1) and (2) have been fulfilled, until he has the ball long enough to become a runner. A player has the ball long enough to become a runner when, after his second foot is on the ground, he is capable of avoiding or warding off impending contact of an opponent, tucking the ball away, turning up field, or taking additional steps.
Now let's apply this definition to what Jesse James did. Did he secure the ball in his hands? Yes. He secured the ball in his hands upon the initial catch. So 1 is checked off the list. We will come back to this don't worry. Did he touch the ground in bounds with both feet or any part of his body other than his hands? Yes. His knee is down before the one yard line. I was discussing this exact rule in a bar just last night post game where a die hard Cowboys fan told me that if you knee is down you are down. I told him that was in college football. All Steeler fans remember Plaxico Burress first NFL catch where he caught the ball, landed on the ground, stood up, spiked the ball, and the Bengals picked it up and ran it back the other way for a touchdown. The gentleman walked away. Back to this play. Did he touch the ground? Yes. He essentially fell into the end zone untouched by a defender. So 2 is also checked off the list. Now comes 3. Did he maintain control of the ball long enough to become a runner? You could argue that he changed direction when falling into the end zone. He was capable of avoiding or warding off impending contact. 3 is also finished. So why wasn't it ruled a catch? The referees of the NFL don't have answer post questions post game so we may never know. But the referees said he didn't control the ball to the ground. However I would argue that the ground essentially caused what should have been a fumble that he recovered. Yet the referees made a ruling.
Now let's take a look at the card play. It was a QB sneak by Dallas essentially. Did Dak get the first down? It didn't look like it from the live camera angle. It looked like he pulled the ball back. But that isn't the field view. It is a tv camera angle view. So what happens when they measured with the chains on the sideline? The referees couldn't decide. It looks like 5-6 referees are there trying to get control of the chains and see if it is a first down. Jason Garrett the Cowboys head coach said in his post game interview it looked like the chains were tilted and not at the 90 degree angle they should be. He thought it was working against him. The audio from Jack Del Rio after the first down call was made was simply, Bullshit. He talked about not wanting to get fined post game. Now how did we get here? The referee pulled out a folded index card around 1:48 in the video above in the Cowboys highlight. Because the index card moved the ball it was deemed a first down. What did the NFL say about this? Their spokesperson said that while using the index card was irregular it didn't violate NFL rules according to espn.com.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21806649/nfl-says-ref-gene-steratore-using-index-card-very-unusual-rules
An interesting fact for this is that Silicon Valley sin't that far away from Oakland's stadium. Yet we used a piece of paper instead of technology like what Tennis has with digital lines to make the determination. Do referees need the jobs this bad? These calls are on par with what the replacement referees gave us a few years ago with the simultaneous catch that had NFL fans arguing for 2-3 weeks until the regular referees were reinstated. That said referees make judgement calls. They have the blink of the eye to make a decision. They have to be in the right position constantly. That is hard to do for a bunch of middle aged men trying to keep up with some of the world's greatest athletes and the top 1% of all people who play football. Judgement calls are missed. That is what the challenge system was brought in around the year 1999/2000 for. It was supposed to get things right. Over the years we have added things that can be reviewed by the referees. It is far more extensive than what we started with.
So why does the NFL let this happen? Calls like this attract people to the screen. Casual fans are watching trying to figure it out. The smart fans who follow everything are arguing already whether it is a catch or a drop. Whether it is legal to use an index card or not. Then you get the outcome. You get more debate. You get more eyes on your product because you are getting all the attention with the facebook/twitter/instagram hastags. You get a ton of eyeballs on your product. In a season where ratings have slowly rebounded after a terrible election year ratings(which came a year after the apex for the sport ratings.) you get calls like this. The NFL thrives off of confrontation and excitement. They thrive off of the mystery of the play and the call. They didn't bring in instant replay to lengthen the game. They brought in instant replay to add intrigue to the game. People like watching highlights in slow motion. Coaches show their tape in slow motion to point out what is going on to the players before watching it in full speed. It helps the players get better. It helps the coaches get better. It helps the fans learn more especially when you have a Chris Collinsworth, Tony Romo, or Jon Gruden explaining what's going on to you.
How do we fix this? Better definition of rules. ESPN had a few good ideas on how to correct the catch rule.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21798623/three-options-fix-nfl-catch-rule-2017
For the index card? Maybe they should officially add this to the rule book or ban this from the rules. Maybe they should add the tennis technology.
To close we had two controversial calls which changed outcomes. The referees feel one way. I personally felt the other way about each call. I'm not a referee I don't go through the training. The same for all the talking heads on tv and other people who are writing about this issue. That said we can all agree that something should be done to better define the rules. We don't need to necessarily erase the drama from the NFL but we should bring back the minute and a half challenge clock. If the referees and the both reviewer/league office can't make a decision if the call should be overturned in a minute and a half then we should uphold the call. Yeah maybe this causes the referees t miss more calls but they make judgement calls. They call what they see and you can't challenge a penalty anyway so there's a good chance they've already screwed a team on a call. The drama will still be there but we can also get back to the action of the game. Let's be clear, the Steelers didn't lose the game because the touchdown was called back. They didn't even lose because of the Ben interception right after. They lost because they had the lead most of the game and struggled to get a first down when they needed it the most. New England scored and Pittsburgh was forced in a tie or win outright situation. They played for the win and it didn't happen. For Oakland? I didn't watch the majority of that game. It was on at the bar but I was watching WWE Clash of Champions on my phone and occasionally looking up for the score and to see what was going on. I'm sure though that the one measurement, the one play didn't cost them the game. Did it infuriate me as a Steeler fan to see us win and then have it taken back? Yeah. But it was out of my control. Yet it is in the NFL's control to better define their rules so we get a more refined product to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18GWrZLOpAA
Then in the Oakland Raiders VS Dallas Cowboys we had an interesting call late in the game on a first down. The referees couldn't determine that Dallas got the first down. So they pulled out a folded index card. Normally instead of index cards we have two polls with linked chains that measure to see if there is a first down on the applicable play. See this happening below. This is the first time I remember something like this happen in my lifetime. Chris Collinsworth said he had never seen this on Sunday Night Football.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4hnFIAzjok
Both videos contain full audio from the announce teams. You can get a lot of good information just by listening to the commentary. You can learn a lot. The first thing we are going to do is visit the NFL rulebook and see what exactly is a catch in the Pittsburgh Steelers VS New England Patriots game which will likely determine homefield division in the AFC.
https://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/nfl-video-rulebook/completing-a-catch/
According to the NFL's rulebook a catch needs three things to happen in order to be deemed as such.
1) Secure the ball in hands or arms prior to the ball touching the ground.
2) Touches the ground in bounds with both feet or any part of his body other than his hands.
3) Maintains control of the ball after (1) and (2) have been fulfilled, until he has the ball long enough to become a runner. A player has the ball long enough to become a runner when, after his second foot is on the ground, he is capable of avoiding or warding off impending contact of an opponent, tucking the ball away, turning up field, or taking additional steps.
Now let's apply this definition to what Jesse James did. Did he secure the ball in his hands? Yes. He secured the ball in his hands upon the initial catch. So 1 is checked off the list. We will come back to this don't worry. Did he touch the ground in bounds with both feet or any part of his body other than his hands? Yes. His knee is down before the one yard line. I was discussing this exact rule in a bar just last night post game where a die hard Cowboys fan told me that if you knee is down you are down. I told him that was in college football. All Steeler fans remember Plaxico Burress first NFL catch where he caught the ball, landed on the ground, stood up, spiked the ball, and the Bengals picked it up and ran it back the other way for a touchdown. The gentleman walked away. Back to this play. Did he touch the ground? Yes. He essentially fell into the end zone untouched by a defender. So 2 is also checked off the list. Now comes 3. Did he maintain control of the ball long enough to become a runner? You could argue that he changed direction when falling into the end zone. He was capable of avoiding or warding off impending contact. 3 is also finished. So why wasn't it ruled a catch? The referees of the NFL don't have answer post questions post game so we may never know. But the referees said he didn't control the ball to the ground. However I would argue that the ground essentially caused what should have been a fumble that he recovered. Yet the referees made a ruling.
Now let's take a look at the card play. It was a QB sneak by Dallas essentially. Did Dak get the first down? It didn't look like it from the live camera angle. It looked like he pulled the ball back. But that isn't the field view. It is a tv camera angle view. So what happens when they measured with the chains on the sideline? The referees couldn't decide. It looks like 5-6 referees are there trying to get control of the chains and see if it is a first down. Jason Garrett the Cowboys head coach said in his post game interview it looked like the chains were tilted and not at the 90 degree angle they should be. He thought it was working against him. The audio from Jack Del Rio after the first down call was made was simply, Bullshit. He talked about not wanting to get fined post game. Now how did we get here? The referee pulled out a folded index card around 1:48 in the video above in the Cowboys highlight. Because the index card moved the ball it was deemed a first down. What did the NFL say about this? Their spokesperson said that while using the index card was irregular it didn't violate NFL rules according to espn.com.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21806649/nfl-says-ref-gene-steratore-using-index-card-very-unusual-rules
An interesting fact for this is that Silicon Valley sin't that far away from Oakland's stadium. Yet we used a piece of paper instead of technology like what Tennis has with digital lines to make the determination. Do referees need the jobs this bad? These calls are on par with what the replacement referees gave us a few years ago with the simultaneous catch that had NFL fans arguing for 2-3 weeks until the regular referees were reinstated. That said referees make judgement calls. They have the blink of the eye to make a decision. They have to be in the right position constantly. That is hard to do for a bunch of middle aged men trying to keep up with some of the world's greatest athletes and the top 1% of all people who play football. Judgement calls are missed. That is what the challenge system was brought in around the year 1999/2000 for. It was supposed to get things right. Over the years we have added things that can be reviewed by the referees. It is far more extensive than what we started with.
So why does the NFL let this happen? Calls like this attract people to the screen. Casual fans are watching trying to figure it out. The smart fans who follow everything are arguing already whether it is a catch or a drop. Whether it is legal to use an index card or not. Then you get the outcome. You get more debate. You get more eyes on your product because you are getting all the attention with the facebook/twitter/instagram hastags. You get a ton of eyeballs on your product. In a season where ratings have slowly rebounded after a terrible election year ratings(which came a year after the apex for the sport ratings.) you get calls like this. The NFL thrives off of confrontation and excitement. They thrive off of the mystery of the play and the call. They didn't bring in instant replay to lengthen the game. They brought in instant replay to add intrigue to the game. People like watching highlights in slow motion. Coaches show their tape in slow motion to point out what is going on to the players before watching it in full speed. It helps the players get better. It helps the coaches get better. It helps the fans learn more especially when you have a Chris Collinsworth, Tony Romo, or Jon Gruden explaining what's going on to you.
How do we fix this? Better definition of rules. ESPN had a few good ideas on how to correct the catch rule.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21798623/three-options-fix-nfl-catch-rule-2017
For the index card? Maybe they should officially add this to the rule book or ban this from the rules. Maybe they should add the tennis technology.
To close we had two controversial calls which changed outcomes. The referees feel one way. I personally felt the other way about each call. I'm not a referee I don't go through the training. The same for all the talking heads on tv and other people who are writing about this issue. That said we can all agree that something should be done to better define the rules. We don't need to necessarily erase the drama from the NFL but we should bring back the minute and a half challenge clock. If the referees and the both reviewer/league office can't make a decision if the call should be overturned in a minute and a half then we should uphold the call. Yeah maybe this causes the referees t miss more calls but they make judgement calls. They call what they see and you can't challenge a penalty anyway so there's a good chance they've already screwed a team on a call. The drama will still be there but we can also get back to the action of the game. Let's be clear, the Steelers didn't lose the game because the touchdown was called back. They didn't even lose because of the Ben interception right after. They lost because they had the lead most of the game and struggled to get a first down when they needed it the most. New England scored and Pittsburgh was forced in a tie or win outright situation. They played for the win and it didn't happen. For Oakland? I didn't watch the majority of that game. It was on at the bar but I was watching WWE Clash of Champions on my phone and occasionally looking up for the score and to see what was going on. I'm sure though that the one measurement, the one play didn't cost them the game. Did it infuriate me as a Steeler fan to see us win and then have it taken back? Yeah. But it was out of my control. Yet it is in the NFL's control to better define their rules so we get a more refined product to watch.
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