Question

[ST413]

Lotsof questions concerning NFL rules these days, however this isnt on one a contact issue. If a pass isnt complete until the player hits the ground and holds onto the ball,  then why is a ball like the saints receiver just caught coming back out of the end zone a TD.  He didnt complete the catch until he hit the ground with the ball on the one.

[baddog]

22 minutes ago, ST413 said:

Lotsof questions concerning NFL rules these days, however this isnt on one a contact issue. If a pass isnt complete until the player hits the ground and holds onto the ball,  then why is a ball like the saints receiver just caught coming back out of the end zone a TD.  He didnt complete the catch until he hit the ground with the ball on the one.

Once the ball breaks the plane of the goal line, with possession, the play is over. They land out of bounds of the back of the end zone all the time.

[ST413]

1 hour ago, baddog said:

Once the ball breaks the plane of the goal line, with possession, the play is over. They land out of bounds of the back of the end zone all the time.

You are right and but if he loses the ball it is incomplete....makes sense to be complete and i guess as a td in the same respect just in my head i guess you dont have possesion until its a completed catch but i guess that would rule out those toe tap catches on the sideline.

[baddog]

11 hours ago, ST413 said:

You are right and but if he loses the ball it is incomplete....makes sense to be complete and i guess as a td in the same respect just in my head i guess you dont have possesion until its a completed catch but i guess that would rule out those toe tap catches on the sideline.

I should have also said that he has to maintain possession after landing on the ground. For me, this is a silly rule. It may have arisen due to the catch the Cowboy's Butch Johnson made in the Superbowl. Lots of people questioned whether or not that should have counted as a TD. For me, it was a TD, nit because he was a Cowboy, but because he had possession long enough, with possession in the end zone. 

Let's say that a RB goes up and over for a score but his body never makes it into the end zone. However, he does exrand the ball over the goal line breaking the plane. It is a TD and should be whistled dead immediately. Does not matter if a defensive player slaps the ball out of his hand after breaking the plane. Play is overwhen that happens.

When this receiver caught the ball as it was breaking the plane of the goal and he comes down with two feet in bounds, to me, it does not matter what happens after that, but that's just me, I guess.