NFL: Catching a Football 101

The National Football League has always been receptive to some feedback. Unfortunately, one of its biggest issues that the moment is actually defining what a reception is.

One of my favorite things to do was play flag football every Sunday afternoon.

Standing behind the line of scrimmage and ready to run a route that was basically a corner route all day long. As soon as that ball was thrown, my job was to run the route look up and find the ball then catch it. You know, the thing you do with two hands. Once the ball was in my hands and not on the ground it was a clean catch. So why is it so difficult for the NFL to understand what a catch is?

This football enigma grew as a result of a catch by former wide receiver Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions against the Chicago Bears in 2010. Johnson made a leaping grab in the end zone that would have put the Lions ahead. It looked like a catch since both feet were in and both hands were on the ball. But shame on Johnson for holding it with one hand! At the time, officials called the catch an incomplete pass.

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"Referee Gene Steratore stated, “The ruling is that in order for the catch to be completed the receiver must maintain possession of the ball throughout the entire process of the catch.”our text"

Well it appears that Johnson’s mistake was catching it with both hands first then finishing the catch by holding it with one hand. Wait…what? Watching the film it is just that, so how was it that New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr’s one-handed catch into the end zone count as a touchdown? The film on OBJ shows that he initially caught the ball with two fingers, transferred it to his body, after it bounced loosely of his body, and landed with the one-handed catch. Yes, I can see now how there is so much confusion with officials as to what constitutes a catch.

Frankly the NFL has made catching a football difficult all because they changed the definition as to what catching a ball should look like.

If one looks at the word “catch” in the dictionary it will give you this definition: to use your hands to stop and hold (an object that is moving through the air); to use your hands to grasp and hold onto (someone or something).

Pretty straight forward right? If Johnson and Beckham caught the ball whether with two hands or one, it is a catch. If the ball is not on the ground, he has maintained possession of it.

Mar 21, 2016; Boca Raton, FL, USA; Vice president of officiating for the NFL Dean Blandino speaks Monday during the NFL annual meetings at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. Mandatory Credit: Robert Duyos-USA TODAY Sports

But maybe it has to do with the people in charge of officiating. During a press conference at the NFL meetings held this week, officiating expert Dave Blandino who defined what makes a catch without all the technical officiating Klingon-type verbiage. Here is his definition: “We’re going to have plays where it looks like a catch but it isn’t.”

There it is football fans, if it looks and acts like a duck (catch), then it is one. So the Calvin Johnson play was not a catch but the Cleveland Brown’s tight end Gary Barnidge butt catch is one because it looks like a catch. I urge the NFL and it’s officiating professionals to stop the circus and leave the definition of a catch as such: If the ball does not touch the ground in any shape or form, it is a catch.

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If it happens to be caught between the hands, thighs or the butt cheeks then it’s a catch, plain and simple. If a player, such as Martavius Bryant of the Pittsburgh Steelers wants to do a somersault to secure the catch, as he did against the Cincinnati Bengals last season, then so be it.

There is no need to make it dificult Mr. Blandino, because it’s not rocket science. Let a catch be catch and if there is a little movement that’s ok because if it is still in the players hands and not on the ground it’s a catch.