Reflections on the Packers 26-21 win over the Cowboys

[observer]

---

"The Catch" -- Dez Bryant, on that 4th and 2 catch
with slightly over 4 minutes left, ruled down just
before getting into the end zone, as his elbow
touched the ground. Unfortunately, as he was
going down, his elbow touched the ground before
he got into the end zone, and as he fell, he held
the ball with its bottom exposed to the ground
rather than simply insuring the catch by bringing
it into his body rather than extending it to try to
get into the end zone.

In the effort to score, the ball came loose when
he was in the end zone, and even though he re-
secured it, on the review of the call, it was over-
turned.

The Cowboys, unable to stop the Packers from
making critical first downs, so the Packers were
able to run out the clock.

Dez, at the time, made the incorrect decision to
try to lunge into the end zone rather than bring-
ing the ball into his body to secure the catch
which would've insured him being called down
before scoring. Had that been the last play of
the came, the lunge would've been commend-
able, but since there were over 4 minutes left,
the lunge was most unwise, and Dez should've
focused on catching the ball rather than on
trying to combine the catch with a lunge to
try to score.

---

Prior to all that, a critical play when DeMarco
Murray fumbled as he was having a large gain
on a run, led to a Packers TD, and DeMarco's
great season diminished due to losing that fum-
ble.

---

Close, but just not quite enough to win, and cer-
tainly one would be hard-pressed to contend that
if Aaron Rodgers had been playing without that
calf injury, the Cowboys would've still been in
position to pull out the win on that day.

Tough game, tough loss, similar to the Ravens-
Patriots game in which Tom Brady and Joe Flacco
both had great days, Brady's being just enough
better than Flacco's to get the Patriots the win.

---

p.s. Tony Romo, played through injury, and did
enough to win the game. The other 2 stars of
the new Cowboys triplets, they fell short of the
mark.

---








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[RJ]

You make a good point, it would have been wiser if
Bryant had just secured the catch, so there would be no question
whatsoever.
To me, some refs try too hard to go by the technical letter of the
rule, rather than just using common sense.
This rule does mention a football move, and to me Bryant lunging
forward and swinging his arm trying to reach the goal line, is a
football move.
Maybe it isn't by the letter of the rule, but it is by common sense.
The wording of the rules can't always cover everything. The refs are
suppose to use common sense to cover the grey areas.

Anyway, I hope there is a change made to this rule in the off season.

[observer]

On 12 Jan 2015 07:28 PM ,RJ <RJ_...@MSN.COM> wrote:

> You make a good point, it would have been wiser if
> Bryant had just secured the catch, so there would be no question
> whatsoever.
> To me, some refs try too hard to go by the technical letter of the
> rule, rather than just using common sense.
> This rule does mention a football move, and to me Bryant lunging
> forward and swinging his arm trying to reach the goal line, is a
> football move.
> Maybe it isn't by the letter of the rule, but it is by common sense.
> The wording of the rules can't always cover everything. The refs are
> suppose to use common sense to cover the grey areas.
>
> Anyway, I hope there is a change made to this rule in the off season.

In my view, they need to define "catch", and
acknowledge that after a "catch" is made, the
ball can come loose whether via a hit by an
opponent, a hit by the ground, or by a player
simply losing control of the ball.

Put another way, someone throws you a ball,
and you catch it, but immediately drop it. When
is that catch a catch, and when is it a drop. It
would seem that could be simply a time mea-
surement, stating that after one second (or
slightly less than that) has passed whereby
the receiver has secured the ball without los-
ing control of it, it's a "catch", open to being
lost or coming loose from any activity without
the "catch" being nullified.

I think 1 second is probably longer than it
should be, so I'd be open to shortening that
to an even shorter time to make for an offi-
cial catch with ? (as little as a half second?)
required to call it an official catch.

I'll run down the play in question, using my
DVR slow advance option to tick down the
time increments. Each DVR slow advance
click takes 1/60th of a second to transpire.

On the play in question:

1) the ball leaves Tony Romo's hands at the
4:40 and 48/60ths of a second mark

2) it hits Dez's hands at the 4:38 and 27/60ths
of a second mark -- that marks the beginning
of the "is it a catch?" question

3) on the clock, 19 slow advance clicks later, at
the 4:38 and 8/60ths of a second mark, Dez's
left foot hits the ground

4) at the 4:37 and 54/60ths of a second mark, Dez's
right foot hits the ground

5) at the 4:37 and 30/60ths of a second mark, Dez's
right hand hits the ground just inside the 1 yard
line

6) at the 4:37 and 27/60ths of a second mark, Dez's
right elbow hits the ground, making him down per
NFL rules at that point, ironically at the same exact
moment that per the rule change mentioned, it
would be an official catch

7) shortly thereafter, extending the ball towards the
goalline, the ball hits the ground and begins to
come loose, coming out after Dez is in the end
zone, and even though he secured it without it
touching the ground, its coming out, per current
rules, caused the catch to be reversed

2 corrections to the previous post: "came" changed
to "game", and Murray's fumble led to a Packers'
field goal, not to a touchdown.

> > the game, the lunge would've been commend-

> > able, but since there were over 4 minutes left,
> > the lunge was most unwise, and Dez should've
> > focused on catching the ball rather than on
> > trying to combine the catch with a lunge to
> > try to score.
> >
> > ---
> >
> > Prior to all that, a critical play when DeMarco
> > Murray fumbled as he was having a large gain

> > on a run, led to a Packers field goal, and De-

> > Marco's great season diminished due to losing

> > that fumble.

> >
> > ---
> >
> > Close, but just not quite enough to win, and cer-
> > tainly one would be hard-pressed to contend that
> > if Aaron Rodgers had been playing without that
> > calf injury, the Cowboys would've still been in
> > position to pull out the win on that day.
> >
> > Tough game, tough loss, similar to the Ravens-
> > Patriots game in which Tom Brady and Joe Flacco
> > both had great days, Brady's being just enough
> > better than Flacco's to get the Patriots the win.
> >
> > ---
> >
> > p.s. Tony Romo, played through injury, and did
> > enough to win the game. The other 2 stars of
> > the new Cowboys triplets, they fell short of the
> > mark.
> >
> > ---

[dls...@gmail.com]

Stats and scientific bullshit.

It was a catch no DVR needed or long drawn out drivel.