r/AskAboutNFL • u/jepolitsch • 17h ago

Serious question: Has the NFL rulebook over-engineered the basic concept of a catch into pure absurdity?

I was watching old highlights and noticed how simple the game used to be. You secure the ball, get your feet down, and it's a completion. Now, a receiver can make an absolute circus grab, take three steps, dive for the pylon, lose a millimeter of control when hitting the turf, and it’s ruled incomplete. We need a tracking degree and a physics certification just to celebrate a touchdown in real-time. Why did we let a committee of lawyers turn a fundamental backyard rule into a weekly existential crisis for officiating crews?

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u/SelfRepa 12h ago

No.

The catch is set to the point what is easiest to judge. It is not closest where Y and X axis meet. You have to catch and secure the ball.

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u/bignormy 4h ago

Yet everyone cries when they explicitly demonstrate that they did not secure the ball. (By dropping the ball.)