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I think the thing is that one doesn't really learn the rules till one's team either benefits or gets burned by the rules. This is what made me go through what they really are. The flowchart on pg 1 really helps, IMHO. The main issue is that many/most fans haven't had to do this (yet) and think that judging catch/no-catch is simpler than it really is. It turns out that there are a lot more ways a play can evolve than most people can think of at the instant a play is made.i've heard multiple officials and league officials quoted this week as saying they very much like the rule as it is now, it is very clear to them and about as good as it is going to get to enforce
BB often talks about how he coaches to the rules. I hate that others don't get this. Not fumbling is more important than scoring so you coach up control of the ball and forbid stretching the ball across the goal line. BB does this. Why don't other coaches? Do they not read and understand the rules?But we aren’t the ones that are saying it should be changed. We never are.
Here's where I disagree. It seems clear that fans expect and prefer that crossing the goal line has higher priority than 'surviving the ground'. If the ball is judged to be under control at the instant it crosses the plane, most people would say it's a catch. Yes, this is harder for officials to judge, but it seems to be what the fans want and expect.I doubt it gets changed. It's really not that complicated, the refs like it a lot and most of the people who actually know what they're talking about think that changing it would be lead to far worse outcomes.
Because the play would end the instant the ball crossed the plane in the receiver's hands. I think this is what the fans want. I think it's not in the rules because it can be hard to judge if the receiver had control at that instant, but it seems most fans think there should be priority given to crossing the goal line.And then eventually what will happen is a play like the James play where the receiver is falling to the ground, possesses it at first, crosses the goal line, then hits the ground and it bounces 10 feet away from him (instead of a much more slight movement like we saw Sunday).
The people complaint now will be the same people complaining then about “the ball bounced 10 feet away from the guy - how can they call that a catch??!?”
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