After a week in which two games had their outcomes affected by overturned catches, NFL head coaches are becoming increasingly frustrated with the complicated and confusing language the league uses to determine possession.
Coaches are still mad about the NFL’s catch rule
Tom Coughlin and Pete Carroll are fed up with the league’s rulebook.
"We've made this a very difficult call," New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said Wednesday on WFAN's Mike Francesa show, via Big Blue View. "And the thing that bothers me about it is, first, the word 'runner.' There is no runner in the end zone. When a guy catches the ball in the end zone, that's it. He's not going to take another step, Mike. He's on the sideline."
Coughlin is coming off a week in which he saw a late-game Odell Beckham Jr. touchdown catch against the Patriots overturned. With less than two minutes remaining and the Giants trailing the Patriots by two, Beckham caught a pass from Eli Manning in the end zone, came down with both feet, only to have the ball knocked out of his hands by New England cornerback Malcolm Butler.
NFL rules state that a player has to complete the catch through the moment he "becomes a runner," which is defined as the moment he "is capable of avoiding or warding off impending contact." The officials on Sunday ruled that Beckham did not do so on this play and the pass was ruled incomplete. The Giants wound up kicking a field goal instead to take a one-point lead, only to lose minutes later following a game-winning kick from Stephen Gostkowski.
“They did get it right, and the rule is pretty clear on this,” NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino told the NFL Network on Monday. “I know there has been a lot of debate about the rule, but it says you have to have control, you have to have both feet down, and after the second foot is down, you have to have the ball long enough to establish yourself as a runner. And that doesn’t matter if you’re in the end zone or in the field of play.”
On Wednesday, Coughlin admitted that he wished Beckham had held the ball tighter but added that he was still peeved about the call.
“It’s not a simultaneous hit. He caught the ball,” he said to Francesa, later adding: “The idea is consistency here, and it really continues to be a problem, in my opinion.”
The Giants weren't the only team bitten by the league's complex catch rules last week. During their pivotal Sunday matchup against the Cardinals, the Seahawks had a second-quarter turnover taken away from them. The play involved Arizona tight end Darren Fells, who appeared to catch a pass from Carson Palmer over the middle, only to be hit by Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner. The shot knocked the ball loose and the Seahawks recovered.
But afterward the officials determined that Fells never controlled the ball through the point when he “became a runner” and instead the pass was ruled incomplete. The ruling was upheld on a challenge and the Seahawks wound up losing 39-32.
“The ruling on the field was incomplete, and we just didn’t feel there was enough evidence to overturn it, that he clearly established himself, ” Blandino said Monday. “The ball was coming out just as he was taking his third step and we never felt that he had clearly established himself as a runner.”
On Monday, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll made it clear that he disagreed with Blandino’s interpretation.
“I wish we would just use [football] sense,” Carroll told ESPN Seattle’s Brock and Salk show on Monday. “You look at it -- did the guy catch it? Yeah, he caught it. OK, now the ball is out. That’s what happened.”
This catch issue is sure to come up again this season and the NFL’s attempts to further clarify the rule have only added confusion.
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