The NFL apparently won’t be allowing perfect to be the enemy of better.
The Competition Committee has proposed a revised catch rule. While still a bit flawed, with a subjective component that could when combined with the 2017 ambiguities and inconsistencies of replay review overtake the rule, it appears that the rule is going to change.
Peter King of SI.com, who had access to Sunday’s meeting of the Competition Committee, reports that there is “little organized opposition” to the changes to the catch rule.
It would only take nine votes to kill it, but if there’s little organized opposition, it’s unlikely that nine owners will come together and take a stand -- especially without a viable alternative. The status quo won’t cut it, so any effort to get a perfect rule will be yielding to a simply better rule.
Until, of course, using that better rule results in various unintended consequences, requiring the rule to yet again be sliced and diced until it’s even less recognizable than a slice of cake from the marriage of King Edward VIII to Wallis Simpson, circa 1937.