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Over the last few seasons, there has been a growing frustration around the league with the catch rule, which has created no definitive solution to determining what a reception is. This overall push for a possible alteration to the rule has become stronger this past season with it playing a factor late in games quite often.
The outside noise around the matter has gotten the league to speak out publicly on it on several occasions, including commissioner Roger Goodell stating that he was concerned about the rule. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the NFL is set to meet on Monday, where they are expected to make some major changes to the rule.
NFL’s competition committee is meeting today in Indianapolis to try to simplify the catch rule, and sources are “expecting some kind of change with added clarity” to the rule before or during March owner’s meetings, per a person familiar with those talks.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 26, 2018
There have been a couple of key examples of the current rule creating confusion of what exactly a catch is. Most commonly brought up is the non-catch by Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Jesse James against the New England Patriots, and Buffalo Bills wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin's touchdown grab against New England that was overturned.
There was also Detriot Lions' wideout Golden Tate's potential game-winning touchdown grab against the Atlanta Falcons that actually wound up impacting the playoff picture.
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On top of that, this rule once again became a factor in Super Bowl LII between the Philadelphia Eagles and Patriots involving a pair of touchdown receptions for the Eagles. The latter was the go-ahead touchdown grab by Pro Bowl tight end Zach Ertz that some felt should have been overturned given the current letter of the law.
All of this confusion has only further pushed for the NFL to make changes to simplify the rule in order for there to be a clear understanding from all vantage points in terms of what is a catch.
This alteration would help significantly decrease the amount issues involving what is deemed a catch and remove any unnecessary dialogue around that aspect of the officiating process for referees.
