Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, December 23, 2017
NFL
It’s a catch. Wait, there’s a catch to the catch.
By BARRY WILNER
Associated Press
It’s a catch. Wait, there’s a catch
to the catch.
While coaches, players, fans and
broadcasters become puzzled or
annoyed by the NFL’s “catch rule,”
the people in charge of developing
and refining it through the years
also have struggled. They simply
couldn’t find language to simplify
it, leading to the inconsistency and
controversy seen for seasons.
Especially this season.
When such NFL personages
as Mike Tomlin and Sean Payton,
both with strong ties to the
powerful competition committee,
seek re-examination and possibly
changes to rules, it moves the issue
front and center, just as much as
the call on Pittsburgh tight end
Jesse James did last weekend.
“I think that we all can acknowl-
edge that all of this needs to be
revisited,” Steelers coach Tomlin
said. “It’s not just that play. We’re
having similar discussions week in
and week out, so as a member of
the committee, I acknowledge that
we’ve got our work cut out for us
this offseason regarding a number
of those things.
“I’m just done talking about it,
to be quite honest with you. You
all know what we teach. Catch the
football.”
Some players do, yet discover
they didn’t. They’re confused by
some of the calls. Even worse,
they aren’t sure they understand
the rules.
It should be simple, right?
Receive the ball, hold onto it, get
tackled and never have it move
when you get to the ground.
Except there are instances when
it can move as long as control
is maintained. It’s just another
example of an NFL rule book with
so many tangents that it would
crush even the heftiest offensive
lineman if it fell on top of him.
“Yeah, I don’t even know what
the language is at this point,”
said Bears tight end Zach Miller
, who lost a TD reception by not
“surviving the ground” on a play in
which he was injured and sidelined
for the rest of the season. “I don’t
AP Photo/Don Wright, File
In this Sunday, Dec. 17 file photo, Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Jesse James (81) loses his grip on the
football after crossing the goal line on a pass play against the New England Patriots in the closing
seconds of the fourth quarter in Pittsburgh. While coaches, players, fans and broadcasters become
puzzled or annoyed by the NFL’s “catch rule,” the people in charge of developing and refining it
through the years also have struggled.
think a lot of people ... I don’t even
know if the rule-makers do at this
point know what the language is.
But they have it there and it’s in
place and they’re trying to follow
it as closely as they can. I just don’t
know if it’s what it needs to be.”
Even the current head of league
officials, Alberto Riveron, and the
man he succeeded, Dean Blandino,
agree that getting the language
right is difficult. Many others
would add getting the call right is
more difficult.
Two years ago, the league
consulted with a group of players
that included Hall of Famers Steve
Largent and Tim Brown, plus
current NFLers.
“And we went over this rule,
a lot of the catch and no-catch
situations, and at the end of the day
— we had them in for two days —
they decided the best way to keep
the rule is where it is right now,”
Riveron says. “But that does not
stop us from going over it again
and taking suggestions from any of
the clubs.”
Those suggestions definitely
will be coming. They already have
begun.
Blandino got them during his
tenure, too. Now an analyst for
Fox, he’s hardly surprised that the
spotlight is on the catch rule again.
“Every year, plays come up —
Calvin Johnson or Dez Bryant or
the play Sunday — that look like
catches and people think should be
catches,” Blandino said. “People
don’t think those passes should be
incomplete.
“The committee tried to write a
rule to make that a catch and allow
officials to call it consistently
and it’s almost impossible. It was
definitely one of the more difficult
things to explain. You can explain
the rule and reasoning and logic
behind it, but a lot of people don’t
agree with it, that that should be
the rule.”
Oddly, the no-catch rule seems
to bring little attention or contro-
versy in the college game, even
though the law is the same.
“The
difference
between
control and possession” is how it
is explained by Terry McAulay,
a former NFL official who has
worked Super Bowls and now is
coordinator of officiating for the
AAC. “He clearly had a control
for much of the play, (but) he
didn’t have it long enough, the
control was lost when the ball hit
the ground, and by rule, and I’m
speaking only college, he never
NBA
Christmas a star-studded day for NBA
By BRIAN MAHONEY
Associated Press
NEW YORK — There’s
LeBron James, Kevin Durant
and Golden State against
Cleveland, for fans wanting
more of the NBA’s reigning
rivalry.
For those preferring
something new, the league’s
Christmas Day schedule has
that, too.
It’s a star-studded slate,
with the NBA Finals rematch
standing out among the top
teams and power players.
The league is driven by star
power, and the NBA is going
all-in this year. The schedule
is about the best players, not
all the best teams.
And with Joel Embiid,
Ben Simmons and Kristaps
Porzingis starting the day,
and Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma
and Karl-Anthony Towns
finishing it, this year’s show-
case is as much about the guys
who got next on the marquee
as the ones on top already.
“They’re doing it for
talent. You have the talent
and the marketable players,
so I understand why they’re
picking those teams,” said
Sacramento veteran Vince
Carter.
The schedule:
— New York hosts
Philadelphia, getting its first
Christmas game since 2001.
— The Warriors welcome
the Cavaliers back to the place
where they finished them off
in Game 5 in June for their
second championship in three
years.
— Washington at Boston
in the Celtics’ first home game
on Christmas.
— Oklahoma City against
Houston, a matchup of MVP
Russell Westbrook
and
runner-up James Harden.
— Minnesota visiting
the Lakers, two non-playoff
teams who have acquired
some of the best young talent
in the league in recent drafts.
Christmas was once a
kickoff of sorts for the NBA,
the first time a national
audience paid attention to
basketball with the football
season winding down. ABC
analyst Jeff Van Gundy, who
will work the Cavs-Warriors
game, was among those who
had said the NBA should
Christmas Day
Schedule
• 9 a.m. — Philadelphia
at New York (ESPN)
• Noon — Cleveland at
Golden State (ABC)
• 2:30 p.m. — Washing-
ton at Boston (ABC)
• 5 p.m. — Houston at
Oklahoma City (ABC)
• 7:30 p.m. — Minneso-
ta at L.A. Lakers (TNT)
AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File
The NBA is driven by star power and its Christmas Day
lineup is about the league’s best players, not all the
best teams. Yes, the NBA will roll out LeBron James
and Kevin Durant, toss in some Russell Westbrook and
James Harden under the mistletoe.
consider starting its season
at Christmas to get out from
under the NFL’s shadow.
Now it’s a celebration
of the success the league is
already enjoying. Combined
viewership on ESPN and TNT
is up 21 percent this season,
with games averaging 1.9
million viewers, even before
what figures to be the biggest
numbers of the season.
ESPN said its audience
is the second-highest it’s
ever had at this point behind
2010-11, James’ first season
in Miami, and Van Gundy said
he’s even a little surprised.
“I don’t know what it
speaks to, but we do have a
bunch of really good, young
players,” Van Gundy said.
“We have a dynasty in the
making in Golden State,
we have a team trying to
challenge them in their own
conference, or a couple teams
in San Antonio and Houston,
and LeBron is still rolling.”
All of them but the Spurs
are in action Monday.
As it often is with the
NBA, Christmas is about the
players more than the teams.
Carter was that kind of
player who NBA fans couldn’t
get enough of early in his
career, before every game was
on League Pass and highlights
all over the internet. He’d
have been the perfect player
to get on Christmas but the
league only played two or
three games back then, and
his Toronto Raptors were only
shown once.
“We were fun to watch,”
Carter said. “We wanted that
opportunity.”
Now this is the 10th
straight year of five games on
Christmas, and with a third of
the league playing, room is
there for just about everybody
fans want to pile in front of
their TVs to watch.
Well, almost everybody.
Van Gundy was hoping
for the Milwaukee Bucks and
their gravity-ignoring Greek
Freak, Giannis Antetok-
ounmpo.
“They should just film
a scrimmage of theirs then,
because Giannis is so good
that he deserves to have
publicity on Christmas Day,”
Van Gundy said.
Maybe next year.
As for this year, the holiday
hoops smorgasbord includes
something old, something
new and a little something
blue:
— A tantalizing twosome
that could’ve been a Big
Three. Embiid and Simmons
have the Sixers on the rise in
their first year together, but
imagine if Porzingis was there
with them. The Knicks took
the 7-foot-3 forward with the
No. 4 pick in 2015, immedi-
ately after Philadelphia passed
for the since-traded Jahlil
Okafor.
— LeBron & KD —
Enough said.
— Peace on Christmas?
Maybe not in Boston, where
the Celtics and Wizards renew
a heated rivalry that only grew
hotter after they went seven
games in the Eastern Confer-
ence semifinals. Toss in Kyrie
Irving going against John
Wall, and the plot thickens.
— Westbrook vs. Harden
alone would have been a good
gift, but it’s even better after
Chris Paul joined Harden in
Houston, and Paul George and
Carmelo Anthony surrounded
Westbrook in Oklahoma City.
— Christmas is for kids,
and the Lakers have Ball
and Brandon Ingram, the
last two No. 2 picks, and the
lesser-known Kuzma who
might become the best of the
bunch. The Wolves have their
own youngsters in Towns and
Andrew Wiggins, but it’s the
acquisition of Jimmy Butler
that could finally end the
postseason drought that dates
to 2004.
Teams win titles but stars
are the stories on Christmas,
as the Celtics know.
Kevin
Garnett,
Paul
Pierce and Ray Allen had
just departed when Brad
Stevens arrived, and the NBA
didn’t want the league’s most
storied franchise without its
superstars. So Boston was
ignored for three years before
finally getting back on the
schedule last year, and now
Irving, Jayson Tatum and
these Celtics make history as
the first to be home for the
holiday.
“I understand that it’s
probably not everybody’s
favorite event, people that
bust their tail and work in
the arenas and are there all
the time, and maybe media
and everybody else,” Stevens
said. “But to be a player or
coach on Christmas Day, it’s
pretty special and I think it’s
something that having not
been there, our first couple of
years, I don’t take for granted
that we’re on that schedule,
for sure.”
established possession. Whether
he was down or not, whether the
ball crossed the plane of the goal
line is irrelevant because he’s not a
player in possession yet.”
McAulay surmises that the
divergent level of skill from the
college game to the pros is why the
catch rule comes into play so much
more in the NFL.
“I think the difference is
the athleticism of the players
involved,” he said. “The NFL
player appears to be able to do
many more things once he gets
his hands on the football than the
college player, who is so focused
just on bringing it in and making
the catch.
“Now we do see this every once
in a while in college, but not nearly
as often as we do in the NFL.”
With the playoffs approaching,
there’s little doubt the catch/no
catch will come up again, perhaps
even in a critical situation, as it did
at Heinz Field on Sunday.
There also seems to be little
question that the outcry about the
rule will lead to — at the very least
— a re-examination of it.
“It will definitely be on the
agenda,” Blandino predicts. “Mike
is on the competition committee,
and any club can bring it up. They
will do what they always have
done: look at different examples
from the season, and talk to game
officials. Maybe they will talk to
players and obviously get coaches’
input, and then make a recommen-
dation.
“Maybe they tweak the language
a bit, but there’s not been a change
since Bert Emanuel in 2000, and
the ball touching the ground and
having to come loose.”
Miller knows how the public
generally feels about the catch rule.
“I don’t know where this is
going, where it’s already been. I
feel like we probably need to bring
in a little bit of common sense to
this thing,” he said. “The Bleacher
Report cartoon that they put out of
mine a couple weeks ago where
they polled a hundred guys at a bar
to see if it was a touchdown or not,
I think that’s kind of your best bet,
because common sense is pulled in
there.”
BRIEFLY
Wyoming routs
Ohio thumps
Central Michigan UAB 41-6 in
in Potato Bowl
Bahamas Bowl
BOISE, Idaho (AP)
— Josh Allen threw three
touchdown passes in his
final game for Wyoming,
and the Cowboys took
advantage of Central
Michigan's eight turnovers
to cruise to a 37-14 victory
Friday in the Famous Idaho
Potato Bowl.
During the postgame
award ceremony, the game
MVP award declared his
intention to give up his
final season of eligibility
to enter the NFL draft.
Wyoming (8-5) rebounded
after losing its last two
regular-season games
with Allen sidelined by a
sprained right shoulder.
Allen was 11 of 19
for 154 yards with no
interceptions. He showed
off his arm strength on a
perfect 45-yard pass that
hit receiver C.J. Johnson in
stride in the end zone.
Central Michigan (8-5)
had won five staight. The
eight turnovers broke the
previous Famous Idaho
Potato Bowl record of six.
Wyoming entered the
game first in the nation
in turnover margin and
second in forced turnovers
and will likely finish at the
top of both rankings after
the bowl season concludes.
Wyoming took a 21-7
lead in the first quarter.
Wyoming's offense
struggled in the red zone
after the first quarter,
settling for three field goals
in three trips.
Central Michigan
struggled everywhere
on the field, watching
promising drives end on
turnovers or other drives
stunted due to Wyoming's
relentless pass rush. The
Cowboys had a season-
high five sacks.
Late in the third quarter,
Central Michigan found
a spark and cut the deficit
to 30-14. The Chippewas
strung together a seven-
play, 65-yard drive that
ended on a 3-yard run by
Jonathan Ward.
But Central Michigan
failed to build on that
momentum, losing it all on
a scoop and score.
NASSAU,
Bahamas
(AP) — Dorian Brown
rushed for 152 yards on just
12 carries and scored four
touchdowns, Nathan Rourke
threw for two scores and
Ohio beat UAB 41-6 in the
Bahamas Bowl on Friday.
Ohio (9-4) averaged
38.9 points per game during
the season, setting a school
record with 467 points
scored, and the Bobcats
exhibited that prowess in
the opening half of this one,
using big plays to build a
27-3 halftime lead.
Brown, a redshirt senior,
scored on runs of 74, 9, 25
and 14 yards, two in the
second quarter and two in
the third.
That was too much for
the Blazers, a feel-good
team seeking its first bowl
victory on just its second try.
The loss spoiled the end of a
remarkable first season back
for UAB (8-5), which was
predicted to struggle and
didn't.
UAB President Ray
Watts had cut the football
program in December 2014
because a university report
deemed it too expensive.
After public outcry, football
was reinstated, but NCAA
rules required the school to
skip the 2016 season to help
the players who stuck it out
re-adjust to competing at the
top level of college football.
The Blazers, under
Conference USA Coach
of the Year Bill Clark,
responded by winning a
school-record eight games
and finished second in the
conference's West Division.
They won six of their final
eight games.
On this day, though, they
ran out of miracles.
The
high-scoring
Bobcats have a veteran
offensive line with more
than 100 starts and they
repeatedly took advantage of
that experience. Rourke had
plenty of time to throw, and
when the Bobcats decided to
run, holes were there. They
finished with a 249-99 edge
on the ground.
Rourke was 12 of 18
for 185 yards passing and
rushed for 30 yards.