The fallacy of "uncatchable."

[Fixit]

I've mostly gotten over the non-call, but this is eating at me.

We've all seen PI waved off because of an uncatchable ball, but those have always been on balls that are so far away or out of bounds that a receiver is physically incapable of catching up to it. Hence, "uncatchable."

But how in the world can a ball that would arrive within a guy's catch radius be uncatchable?

Take the defenders out of the play, for the moment. Could Brady's throw have been caught by Gronk, even in his Kuechly-aided position at the back of the end zone? Yes.

Put the defenders back in. Could the ball have squirted through the defender's hands and gotten to Gronk? Again, yes. In that case, we have what was ruled uncatchable becoming catchable.

What?

By this logic, any ball that is picked off negates PI. The interception apparently renders the ball uncatchable by the receiver, regardless of the accuracy of the throw or the activity of the defender.

That should make things pretty interestng.

 

[PatsDeb]

Yep, pretty much any ball is uncatchable if your arms are pinned to your sides.

 

[flasox27]

So far this year we have seen the Pats screwed by the Ref's out of chances to win two games. The first was on a call which has been only made once this year and the second on a call which was made and unmade based on a premise that is unsupportable. Call me cynical but when something smells fishy, I don't think its perfume. Since the POS Jets commissioner took over, the scales have been weighed heavily against the Pats in terms of dubious calls and I don't think it's a coincidence.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Yep, pretty much any ball is uncatchable if your arms are pinned to your sides.

And you're being railroaded/tackled into the back of the end zone.

 

[Kontradiction]

Gronk couldn't make a play on the ball because Keuchly was driving him toward the back of the end zone. The GIF's and videos posted show Gronk trying to plant his foot and by then, Keuchly already had him wrapped up.

 

[Kontradiction]

So far this year we have seen the Pats screwed by the Ref's out of chances to win two games. The first was on a call which has been only made once this year and the second on a call which was made and unmade based on a premise that is unsupportable. Call me cynical but when something smells fishy, I don't think its perfume. Since the POS Jets commissioner took over, the scales have been weighed heavily against the Pats in terms of dubious calls and I don't think it's a coincidence.

I don't think the sport is fixed at all. I think the refs had to make a snap judgment call and made the one that would get them out of Carolina alive.

 

[Ozymandias]

More of this simultaneous nonsense from NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino:

“The back judge is going to see restriction right there and he’s going to throw his flag for that restriction,” Blandino said. “The side judge who had Dobson, his mechanics are once the ball is in the air he’s going to go to the ball and he’s going to focus on the interception. After the play – you’ll see the flag come out – the back judge is going to signal to the side judge and they’re going to get together and have a discussion. What they’re going to talk about is when did the restriction occur in relation to the ball being touched? Because once the ball is touched you cannot have pass interference. This is a judgment call; the officials don’t have the use of replay. They don’t have slow motion replay and ultimately they ruled that the restriction occurred simultaneously with the ball being touched. When you watch it at full speed, you could see why they would make that call on the field.”

That’s a different explanation than referee Clete Blakeman offered after the game. What Blakeman said is that the flag was picked up because the pass wasn’t catchable, not because the restriction occurred simultaneously with the ball being touched.

Dean Blandino: I wouldn?t say the officials got it wrong | ProFootballTalk

I love how they're changing their tune now. This feels like that Fail Mary play all over again. The NFL's incompetence in this is borderline embarrassing.

 

[BlueThunder]

More of this simultaneous nonsense from NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino:


Dean Blandino: I wouldn?t say the officials got it wrong | ProFootballTalk

I love how they're changing their tune now. This feels like that Fail Mary play all over again. The NFL's incompetence in this is borderline embarrassing.

Blandino said the ball was touched "simultaneously" with Gronk being interfered with. The video shows 3 sec. elapse before the ball was touched.

I call BS :rocker:

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

wow, just when I thought I was over this, the NFL has backed off and changed the story, from it being

an uncatchable ball (an excuse that, while wrong, can at least be argued with a straight face)

to

a restriction of the receiver occurring nearly simultaneous with the interception.

bizarroland

 

[RayClay]

More of this simultaneous nonsense from NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino:


Dean Blandino: I wouldn?t say the officials got it wrong | ProFootballTalk

I love how they're changing their tune now. This feels like that Fail Mary play all over again. The NFL's incompetence in this is borderline embarrassing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiNE5v_kH_c

 

[Gronk]

I've always thought "uncatchable" was a silly caveat to the rule anyway. Either an action by a player is a rule infraction and a penalty is called, or it is not.

At least call the 5-yard (or is it 10?) holding penalty and give them another play if not the PI call that moves it to the 1 yd line.

By this logic why is there no rule that officials can pick up a flag on a holding call on the back side of a run play if they deem that the player being held couldn't have caught the ball carrier? Or is there and that's one I've just never seen called but will suspiciously pop up next week vs. Denver?

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

The NFL told us last night that if a pass is over someones had..or short..or on the other side of the field...the DB can tackle/hug the other player and it won't be called.


Morons

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

The bear hug and the INT are near-simultaneous, geologically speaking.

In that regard, both are also near-simultaneous with the assassination of Abe Lincoln.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

I've always thought "uncatchable" was a silly caveat to the rule anyway. Either an action by a player is a rule infraction and a penalty is called, or it is not.

At least call the 5-yard (or is it 10?) holding penalty and give them another play if not the PI call that moves it to the 1 yd line.

By this logic why is there no rule that officials can pick up a flag on a holding call on the back side of a run play if they deem that the player being held couldn't have caught the ball carrier? Or is there and that's one I've just never seen called but will suspiciously pop up next week vs. Denver?

You cant make the wrong call as a compromise, make the right call or not, don't make the call and then pick up the flag and run off the field. Id have much more respect and accept this much easier if the NFL would just say we screwed up, this double talk is an embarrassment.

 

[Silver Blue&Red]

I don't think the sport is fixed at all. I think the refs had to make a snap judgment call and made the one that would get them out of Carolina alive.

That's not a judgment call. That's a "pressured" call to get out alive. Cowardly and wrong. Everyone but the officials and Chris Carter, know it.

 

[BlueThunder]

Someone posted a video of the exact same play being called a penalty in the Detroit/Cleveland game.

Detroit got the ball on the one and won the game on that PI call.


Refs in Carolina complete blew that flag pickup

 

[Silver Blue&Red]

The Refs, the Panthers and their fans, can suck my fallacy.

 

[PatsSox363804]

In a league where Eli Manning has won a lot of games underthrowing balls and getting PI called on the defense, I find it laughable that people are saying the ball was "uncatchable" because it was "underthrown."

You know a call is complete and utter horse**** when something like 80% of those polled around the country take the Patriots side.

 

[JFK]

A ball would have been uncatchable to AJ Green however Ihedigbo tipped it to him for a TD.
The refs should have stayed with the PI call because if Kuechly didn't interfere with Gronk, the interception would have been tougher for the DB as Kuechly kind of pushed Gronk out of the DBs way.

Anyways

 

[Archeryaddict12]

The Patriots have been on the opposite side of the spectrum for over a decade. I don't know whether it's because Kraft pays off Goodell or what. Take your lumps because other teams have been getting screwed over by garbage calls when playing the Pats for years.

Roger Goodell fires MNF refs for not calling PI for Tom Brady

Troll, just Leave because you have no clue what your talking about.