By Ken Reed
I recently wrote about the absurd, anti-fan, NFL catch rule. Since then, only a week later, another incomprehensible catch rule call was made.
This time, it took place in the Buffalo vs. New England game this past Sunday. A catch by Kelvin Benjamin of the Bills was initially ruled a good catch and touchdown by the officials on the field. However, after a review by the NFL office in New York, the call on the field was overturned and the play was ruled an incomplete pass.
In addition to the coaches, players and fans who couldn’t believe the overturned call, former NFL officiating VP Mike Pereira was in shock due to the overturned call. This is what he posted on Twitter:
Regarding the Buffalo no touchdown, nothing more irritating to an official than to make a great call and then someone in a suit in an office in New York incorrectly reverses it. Now that another touchdown has been taken away without clear and obvious evidence, it is time to move on to the catch rule. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense. Start with the Jesse James play. That should be a catch and a touchdown, not an incomplete pass.
The “Jesse James play” he’s referring to is the overturned catch-and-touchdown call from the recent Pittsburgh vs. New England game. That ruling likely determined home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and, as such, might’ve determined the Super Bowl champion.
It was a horrible ruling.
The current NFL catch rule has to go, before another season is tainted and more fans get fed up with the absurdity of it all.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
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