Did You Catch That?

By now, you may have seen multiple plays, either live or in highlights, where the receiver seems to defy gravity and the laws of time and space to make an incredible catch.  Some of these plays may have even been challenged by opposing coaches, or by the receiver’s coach when the pass was ruled as not caught, or “incomplete.”  In case you weren’t paying close attention, or haven’t seen one of these circus performances in action, today’s lesson covers what a player must do to legally “catch” the ball.

Making a catch under NFL rules is not as easy as you might think.  Let’s start with the definition of “possession,” taken from the NFL Digest of Rules.  In the Digest, “possession” is defined as “[w]hen a player controls the ball throughout the act of clearly touching both feet, or any other part of his body other than his hand(s), to the ground inbounds.”

See what I mean?

Here is what it means to “catch” the ball, broken down into three simple parts:

1.       The player must have the ball in one or both hands;

2.       Once the ball is clearly controlled by the player, he must then have both feet* in bounds; and

3.       As he falls to the ground, or goes out of bounds, he must continue to firmly control the ball in his hands.

Point 1 seems obvious, but there are a couple more details.  First, needs to catch the ball before it hits the ground (i.e., no catching of a bounce).  Second, he needs to have the ball firmly in his control; it can’t be bouncing around in his hands or spinning against his shoulder, etc.

Point 2 is where you can see examples of tremendous athleticism.  When a pass is caught and the receiver clearly has control of the ball, the officials will then look to the receiver’s feet to make sure they are in bounds.  If the play is at or near the sideline and the receiver’s momentum is carrying him out of bounds, he will channel his inner ballet dancer and point his toes so that they tap down or drag the turf for the completion.  Here is one example of a great grab by Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson at the back of the end zone:

Point 3 emerges from the language “throughout the act …” from the definition of possession.  Basically, once the player has caught the ball, he needs to continue to possess it as he lands on the ground and his momentum stops.  Remember the post on fumbles?  You may recall the axiom that the “ground can’t cause a fumble.”  In this case, the ground can most certainly cause an incomplete pass.  This is a fairly recent development in the evolution of the catch rule, and can lead to some seemingly harsh calls.  A case in point is the following play when it appeared that Detroit Lions wide receiver caught the winning touchdown:

Who knew that something that seemed so simple could cause so much heartbreak?  Welcome to football!

*College and high school rules only require one foot to be in-bounds.

Turnovers: Interceptions and Fumbles

If the word “turnover” only calls to mind fruity pastries, then this post is for you.  Today we explore the ways that a team accidentally loses possession of the ball.

A turnover is when the team with the ball loses possession of the ball to the other team.  There are two types of turnovers:  the interception and the fumble.  Notice that I didn’t say “when the offense loses possession of the ball to the defense.”  There are two reasons for this:  (1) possession can occur during a special teams play when the teams are the “receiving” and “kicking” teams; and (2) there can be multiple turnovers on the same play, so that the offense initially loses the ball but then a scene from Keystone Kops ensues and the defense loses it after gaining possession!  What fun!

INTERCEPTIONS

An interception occurs when a defensive player catches a pass that was meant to be caught by a player on the offense.  There is usually not much dispute over whether an interception has occurred, unless there is a question of whether the defensive player actually caught the ball.  However, there may be a question of whether the defensive player committed a pass interference penalty in the process of catching the ball.*  As you learned in my post on challenges, a judgment by the officials over whether a penalty such as pass interference occurred is not reviewable.

One quirk on interceptions:  if both the offensive and defensive player come down with their hands on the ball so that it looks like they both have possession, the offense keeps possession of the ball at the spot where the ball was caught.  In other words, to borrow a phrase from baseball, “the tie goes to the runner.”

FUMBLES

Once a play has begun, the player that holds the ball is called the runner.  The runner can be one of three people:  (1) the quarterback, until he hands off, or throws the ball to, another player, or if he is keeping it and running down the field himself; (2) the player, usually the running back, that the quarterback hands the ball to; or (3) the player, a wide receiver or tight end, to whom the quarterback throws the ball.

A fumble occurs when the runner drops the ball before he is tackled. **  Any player can try to get the ball by diving on it or picking it up.  A fumble is “lost” if a defensive player gains control of the ball, thus earning possession for his team.  A fumble is “recovered” if a player on offense, either the runner or another player, gains control of the ball, retaining possession for his team.

Sound simple, right?  It usually is.  However, a couple of rules make the issue more complicated.  Under the rules, a runner is tackled or “down” when one or both of his knees touches the ground and he had been touched by a defensive player (in the NFL, if a player stumbles on his own, he can get back up and keep running; this is not the case in college).  Fumbles are often challenged or reviewed when there is a question of whether the runner was down before the lost the football.  If he lost the football after one of his knees hits the ground, there is no fumble. 

Another rule you will hear often is that the ground cannot cause a fumble.  It’s hard to explain what this means; it’s one of those you’ll-know-it-when-you-see-it situations.  Generally, though, if a runner is being brought down, or has fallen, there is no fumble if he held onto the ball and it is only from hitting the ground that the ball came loose and out of the player’s grip.  This is also often the subject of review.

*The standards for a catch and pass interference are the same for both the offense and the defense, and will be explained in a later post.

**I should distinguish a “fumble” from a “muff.”  A muff occurs when a player unsuccessfully tries to get possession of a loose ball.  Therefore, the player hasn’t even had the ball yet.