On Saturday, NFL officials deemed Bills receiver Brandin Cooks did not make a football move after a potential catch. And even though Cooks’ knee touched the ground with the ball clearly in his possession, Broncos cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian received an interception for stripping the ball from him after the two fell to the ground.
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The interception call tipped the outcome of Denver’s 33-30 playoff victory over Buffalo in the Broncos’ favor.
Why did Davante Adams get caught?
On Sunday, during another critical juncture in a divisional playoff game, Rams receiver Davante Adams was involved in a similar play. Except in this case, officials awarded Adams a catch.
Instead of an interception, the catch set up the Rams for a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter en route to a 20-17 overtime victory.
On the play in question, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford looked at Adams in traffic up the middle on second and 10. Adams secured the ball between two defenders.
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Before taking a step, Adams was dragged to the ground. Before and as his knee hit the ground, Bears defensive back Tyrique Stevenson had his hand on the ball and was struggling to control it. Stevenson stripped the ball from Adams before Adams fell to the turf and took possession.
So what made that a trick? Here’s Shawn Hochuli’s explanation of the field:
“The decision on the field is the runner down due to contact,” Hochuli said. “It’s the first try, offensive.”
Terry McAulay agrees with both calls
The Bears did not challenge the call and the Rams scored a touchdown five plays later to take a 17-10 lead. After the catch, NBC turned to former NFL official and rules analyst Terry McAluay for his thoughts. He agreed with his former colleagues that the play was “clearly” a legal catch.
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“He clearly completed the catch on this one,” McAulay said. “He has enough time to perform an act common to the game, and then he falls to the ground and his knee drops before he loses control.”
Compare that to McAulay’s explanation on social media Saturday about why Cooks didn’t catch the ball:
“A player who goes to the ground to catch a pass must maintain control during and after contact with the ground. That is the rule. Apply accordingly.”
So what’s the difference? Here is the disputed play between Broncos and Bills:
“A player who drops to the ground to catch a pass” is the one doing the heavy lifting here.
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McAulay saw a “game-playing act” from Adams that he didn’t see from Cooks. Adams did not take a step. He didn’t turn upfield. He landed upright with both feet on the ground, where Cooks’ feet touched the ground, but fell to the grass when he caught…errr, didn’t catch the ball.
That was enough for McAulay to agree with the decisions about capturing Adams and not capturing Cooks.
‘Simultaneous possession’ explained
CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore was on the call for the Cooks-McMillian play. He also agreed with the call in the field. I was not convinced that Cooks ever had possession of the ball to justify simultaneous possession, even though Cooks had it firmly and clearly in his hand when he hit the ground.
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“I’m not sure Cooks would have possession of the field there to say it would be simultaneous,” Steratore said. “It seems to me that Cooks didn’t have firm possession of the ball when they were on the ground through contact there.”
In the meantime, here is the language from the NFL rule book that dictates that the ball belongs to the offense in the case of simultaneous possession between a receiver and a defender:
“If a pass is caught simultaneously by two eligible opponents and both players retain it, the ball belongs to the passers.
“It is not a simultaneous catch if one player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains joint control. If the ball is blocked after two of those players touch it simultaneously, all players on the passing team will be eligible to catch the loose ball.”
Cooks had control of the ball before McMillian took it away from him, rather than the two gaining possession at the same time, which appears to be enough to rule out “simultaneous possession” under the letter of the law.
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Are these explanations enough?
These explanations attempt to address what is or is not a problem. None of them directly address what is supposed to happen when an offensive player secures a pass but the ball comes loose after his knee hits the ground but does not fall incomplete.
And they probably won’t be enough to satisfy those who disagree with either or both calls, especially those who see an inconsistency in how the two were called. The fact that the calls were linked to such high risks on consecutive nights raises the temperature that much higher.