Saw this in an article how Al Riveron has made three calls/no calls this year that decided the game and all went in favor of NE.
• New England’s Brandin Cooks caught a 25-yard touchdown pass with 23 seconds left to beat Houston 36-33 on Sept. 24. He caught the ball with both feet in the end zone but lost control as he hit the ground out of bounds. It was ruled a touchdown, and Riveron did not overturn it upon review.
• New York Jets tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins caught a 4-yard touchdown pass against the Patriots, and fumbled through the back of the end zone once he crossed the line. It was ruled a touchdown on the field. Riveron overturned it. The Patriots got the ball at the 20. New England went on to win 24-17 on Oct 15.
• Then, Sunday night Jesse James caught a pass from Ben Roethlisberger over the middle, was never touched as his knee hit the ground, stretched the ball over the goal line and only then seemed to lose control of it. Riveron overturned the score, putting the ball back at the 10. New England won, 27-24.
This retarded rule is 100% getting changed in the offseason.
Here’s where Matthew Stafford ranks among NFC quarterbacks through Week 15:
Yards: 1st (3,920)
Passer rating: 3rd (99.1)
Yards per attempt: 3rd (7.82)
Completion percentage: 3rd (66.3)
Touchdowns: 3rd (25)
Again its the subjective part of when he has the ball and makes the football move part.
I was listening to Brian Billick talk about this on Sirius who says its 100% a catch if you go by the language of the rule.
Why? Because of the phrasing in that rule book article. It says the player needs to keep possession when going to the ground blah blah but then, the rule says the word *initial* contact with the ground.
Here's the rule, verbatim from the rule book: "A player who goes to the ground in the process of attempting to secure possession of a loose ball (with or without contact by an opponent) must maintain control of the ball until after his initial contact with the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, there is no possession."
So, Billick was saying that if they had not included the word "initial" there, the refs and the NFL would have been right to call that play not a TD.
However, he said, if the player needs to regain control before the *initial* contact, then we need to judge this play at the moment the knee hit the ground. That was the *initial* contact, Billick said. He added that one knee is equal to two feet.
The NFL and the refs are considering the "initial" contact with the ground, to be the moment when the player went down with the ball over the line into the end zone and the ball bobbled when it hit the ground and the player never regained full control before that "initial" contact with the ground.
But oh wait, according to Billick they failed to consider that the "initial" contact had already happened (the knee), and at that moment there was full control, so like my initial take on this, he believes that once the player who wasn't touched then extended the ball into the end zone, the moment the first bit of the ball crossed the plane, it was a TD and the play was dead, and subsequent bobbling shouldn't have mattered.
He added that with a knee down (therefore the equivalent of two feet down) the player made a football move by extending his arm into the end zone.
This retarded rule is 100% getting changed in the offseason.
The Cheatriots get a lot of bullshit calls. This wasn't one of them.
Brandin Cooks’ touchdown epitomized the catch rule's ‘gray area’
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But oh wait, according to Billick they failed to consider that the "initial" contact had already happened (the knee), and at that moment there was full control, so like my initial take on this, he believes that once the player who wasn't touched then extended the ball into the end zone, the moment the first bit of the ball crossed the plane, it was a TD and the play was dead, and subsequent bobbling shouldn't have mattered.
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I actually agree with you both, I just feel the James catch met all the same criteria as the Cooks catch. Its pretty clear in the video above he catches the ball, knee goes down, and *then* extends the ball -- it happens in a sequence -- not at the same time. Same as catch, tuck the ball, do little hop, ball hits the ground and comes out (in the Cooks catch) because he already had established possession. Its that whole process of going all the way to the ground which is a subjective gray area and is silly.Yeah was going to say that one I thought was ruled correctly.
Saw this in an article how Al Riveron has made three calls/no calls this year that decided the game and all went in favor of NE.
• New England’s Brandin Cooks caught a 25-yard touchdown pass with 23 seconds left to beat Houston 36-33 on Sept. 24. He caught the ball with both feet in the end zone but lost control as he hit the ground out of bounds. It was ruled a touchdown, and Riveron did not overturn it upon review.
• New York Jets tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins caught a 4-yard touchdown pass against the Patriots, and fumbled through the back of the end zone once he crossed the line. It was ruled a touchdown on the field. Riveron overturned it. The Patriots got the ball at the 20. New England went on to win 24-17 on Oct 15.
• Then, Sunday night Jesse James caught a pass from Ben Roethlisberger over the middle, was never touched as his knee hit the ground, stretched the ball over the goal line and only then seemed to lose control of it. Riveron overturned the score, putting the ball back at the 10. New England won, 27-24.
Again its the subjective part of when he has the ball and makes the football move part.
I was listening to Brian Billick talk about this on Sirius who says its 100% a catch if you go by the language of the rule.
Why? Because of the phrasing in that rule book article. It says the player needs to keep possession when going to the ground blah blah but then, the rule says the word *initial* contact with the ground.
Here's the rule, verbatim from the rule book: "A player who goes to the ground in the process of attempting to secure possession of a loose ball (with or without contact by an opponent) must maintain control of the ball until after his initial contact with the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, there is no possession."
So, Billick was saying that if they had not included the word "initial" there, the refs and the NFL would have been right to call that play not a TD.
However, he said, if the player needs to regain control before the *initial* contact, then we need to judge this play at the moment the knee hit the ground. That was the *initial* contact, Billick said. He added that one knee is equal to two feet.
The NFL and the refs are considering the "initial" contact with the ground, to be the moment when the player went down with the ball over the line into the end zone and the ball bobbled when it hit the ground and the player never regained full control before that "initial" contact with the ground.
But oh wait, according to Billick they failed to consider that the "initial" contact had already happened (the knee), and at that moment there was full control, so like my initial take on this, he believes that once the player who wasn't touched then extended the ball into the end zone, the moment the first bit of the ball crossed the plane, it was a TD and the play was dead, and subsequent bobbling shouldn't have mattered.
He added that with a knee down (therefore the equivalent of two feet down) the player made a football move by extending his arm into the end zone.
This retarded rule is 100% getting changed in the offseason.
A note in Rule 8.1.3 states this clearly:
If a player has control of the ball, a slight movement of the ball will not be considered a loss of possession. He must lose control of the ball in order to rule that there has been a loss of possession.
That is why Cooks was given the touchdown. Applies to both cases.