One of the most laughable debates that continue to be a thing is the NFL rule changes regarding what is or is not a catch. It seems like every year the league finds a new way to overcomplicate the matter, and when something happens on the field that doesn’t fall under their ridiculous guidelines, it makes matters even worse. Chicago Bears fans had to witness it first hand when the head of officiating Al Riveron drew all sorts of hate for his incredible overturning of the Zach Miller touchdown catch against New Orleans.
Everybody remembers by now. Miller hauled in a Mitch Trubisky bomb with one hand and appeared to possess it all the way to the ground. Meanwhile, his left knee was in the process of bending like a pretzel, forcing gag reflexes to go off nation-wide. Everybody in the building thought it was a touchdown. Then the review came back it had been overturned.
When Riveron tried to explain with a video replay, his explanation came off as brief and more than a little weak. Yet that’s not the best part. After the fact when it no longer matters, the NFL decided to make changes to the rule again. Riveron, of all people, has since admitted that the new changes would’ve made the Miller play a touchdown.
NFL SVP Al Riveron said that Bears TE Zach Miller's incomplete ruling against the Saints would be ruled a touchdown under the new catch rule. https://t.co/WBiz0A2eyv
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) March 26, 2018
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NFL rule change is little comfort to Zach Miller
This definitely goes under the title of “Too Little, Too Late. Rather than simply admit the new rule would’ve given Miller what everybody on the planet except the league office knew he had, they could’ve just changed the record book. The Saints would still be winners of the game but Miller would’ve at least have what is likely the last play of his career be a circus touchdown catch.
This admission simply empty noise at the end of the day. A reactionary response to a rule that was and remains broken. The NFL may think the problem is solved but soon enough some other player will have a catch robbed from him by the rule and thus more changes will come. It might’ve been better to just stay silent on the subject.
