Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti just echoed the world's thoughts on the NFL catch rule.
After watching two more examples of a catch/no catch courtesy of Zach Ertz and Corey Clement in Super Bowl 52, Bisciotti decided to let loose on the topic, according to Ryan Mink of the Baltimore Ravens official website.
“The whole thing is stupid,” Bisciotti said, via the team’s official website.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell already stated the league will look into the rule this offseason, and he stated it as recently as last week. Bisciotti offered his opinion on how to fix the issue at hand.
“Start over. It’s just ridiculous,” he said. “Every time you’ve talked about referees, I’ve always defended them. It is such a hard job, they do such a good job, and yet we’re sitting there looking at five different HD camera angles, and then they’re changing some things, and I think it’s worse than it’s ever been. I think sometimes things have to get really, really bad before there is change …
“I bet you that there is going to be a significant change in that. A football move? I mean, how you can catch the ball, get both feet down, turn towards the end zone and start diving for it, and they say it’s not a football move? No. It’s stupid.”
It's understandable how the league arrived at the sticky spot it faces today. To ensure a catch is a catch is understandable because if that stringent safeguard isn't in play, the debate will go on for years. The problem really lies within the replay system.
When the league creates controversy, more often than not, the play on the field is overturned. By looking at every close play and attempting to judge catch versus no catch is the incorrect thing to do. You'd be reviewing for 15 minutes which is exactly what happens at times. What they must do is remember the one extremely important golden rule …
Only overturn a play on the field if it contains 100 percent indisputable evidence—only if it's completely obvious.
Think of the Clement touchdown catch we witnessed last Sunday. Very easily, the call could have been incomplete on the field. However, they ruled it complete and following replay, decided to leave it as complete. In situations like that, the play on the field must stand. It's simply too close to overturn.
Bisciotti offering up a solution is great to hear, but it's much less complex than that. Goodell and his henchmen must put a system in place in which replay only overturns catches in the most obvious of situations. They've gotten away from the most important rule, “indisputable evidence,” and it's crushed the NFL this season.
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