The NFL is set to revise its controversial catch rule, reportedly eliminating passages that led to a series of disputed incompletions upon video replay review.
The proposed changes — described by NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent in an interview with the Washington Post — would include removal of the standards that a football can’t shift at all in a receiver’s hands (only demonstrated control would be necessary) and that a receiver maintain full possession of the ball while on the ground (control apparently would only need to be held through the initial contact).
NFL commissioner Roger Goodall had asked the league’s competition committee to “start over” in overhauling the catch rule, and the changes could be finalized in a vote by owners next week.
“Slight movement of the ball, it looks like we’ll reverse that,” Vincent told the Post. “Going to the ground, it looks like that’s going to be eliminated. And we’ll go back to the old replay standard of reverse the call on the field only when it’s indisputable.”
The phrases used by Vincent — “slight movement of the ball” and “going to the ground” — took on their own life within the sport as apparent receptions in key moments by players such as the Detroit Lions’ Calvin Johnson in 2010, Dallas Cowboys’ Dez Bryant in 2014 and Pittsburgh Steelers’ Jesse James in 2017 were all nullified. A similar moment in the most recent Super Bowl involving Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor was allowed to stand as called on the field as a touchdown catch despite its similar appearance to those overturned calls, prompting further confusion over the rule.
The final ruling on replays belongs to an official in the replay review center in New York, although on-field referees have access to video on tablets and are involved in the process.
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SportTechie Takeaway:
The high-speed, high-definition cameras used in television broadcasts have enhanced the viewing experience but led to unintended consequences with replay reviews.
When Major League Baseball expanded its replay program beyond home run calls, the league had its own internal debate about what constituted a catch. On, say, a close play at first base, is it a catch when the baseball enters the fielder’s mitt, when the ball hits the webbing of the glove or when he closes the mitt around the ball? There have also been a host of controversial plays involving a runner sliding into a base when he is initially safe but later ruled out when replay shows that he momentarily loses contact with the base while the tag remains applied.
Similarly, advanced replay in football began detecting wobbles of the ball within the receiver’s grasp that previously went unnoticed, raising the bar for a completion. The replay mandate is that there must be “clear and obvious” evidence to overturn a call, but more is obvious with better technology, prompting some to urge a return to more subjectivity on the field.
“My feeling is that replay has screwed this whole thing up,” former NFL official Jim Daopoulos told ESPN. “That’s why I’m thinking that we should let these guys who have all the experience and do all the games, let them make these decisions. You talk about the obvious calls. How many of the very obvious ones are they going to miss?”
Striking the right balance of objective replay review with some subjective application of common sense to rulings is critical for the success of these replay programs. Eliminating controversy will be impossible, but minimizing it shouldn’t be.