Sam Shields: 'It was a catch'

Jwooten15

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Sam Shields: 'It was a catch'

January, 23, 2015

By Todd Archer | ESPN.com


IRVING, Texas -- Picking up Dallas Cowboys' pieces from four days at the Pro Bowl in Phoenix:

Reliving the catch: Dez Bryant pulled out of the Pro Bowl because of a lingering groin injury, but Green Bay Packers cornerback Sam Shields is playing in the game. The last time they saw each other Bryant’s fourth-down catch was overruled by replay.

“It was a catch,” Shields said, “But the new rule and at the last minute what happened, that’s what the refs came up with. I never said he didn’t catch it. He made a helluva catch I was in great coverage. Like I said, it was good on good and he came up with the catch.”

Bryant thought it was a catch. The Cowboys thought it was a catch. Shields thought it was a catch. The NFL didn’t. Bryant said he was reaching for the goal line as he was going down. Shields agreed.

“I did look back and I seen him reaching and I guess that’s when he didn’t control the ball as he was doing that,” Shields said.

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I seriously hope this rule is altered in the offseason. I don't care if the interpretation is cut and dry, the rule is wrong.
 

Carp

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The biggest thing for me is...rule aside...the ball did not touch the ground. I know there have been pictures posted and at no point can the NFL say they have definitive proof that the ball touched the ground. That is the only way they can overturn it.
 

Jwooten15

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The biggest thing for me is...rule aside...the ball did not touch the ground. I know there have been pictures posted and at no point can the NFL say they have definitive proof that the ball touched the ground. That is the only way they can overturn it.
Completely agree with you there.

The only time it touched the ground was when he dove for the endzone, and he still had control at that point.

You always hear how "the ground cannot create a fumble", and "there must be indisputable evidence to overturn a call".

Well, the NFL sure was quick to jump the gun and go against both of those principles on that play.

Politics, my friend. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but it does make you wonder.
 

Simpleton

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Lol.

If it wasn't for all the belly-aching by all the bitches in the media for a full week following the Lions game over a mistake that is made several times each and every week of the NFL season this bullshit wouldn't have been overturned. Fuck the NFL.
 

Jwooten15

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It still blows my mind to think they overturned that play.
Watching it frame by frame brings back the same pissed-off feeling I had when it happened live.
 

ravidubey

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The biggest thing for me is...rule aside...the ball did not touch the ground. I know there have been pictures posted and at no point can the NFL say they have definitive proof that the ball touched the ground. That is the only way they can overturn it.
What they didn't have definitive proof of was that he did not reach for the goal line (football move).

The review officials somehow so strongly determined that Bryant landed randomly they overturned the field official who like Shields saw Bryant reaching for the goal.

As for the rule itself, while I don't like it, I understand why it needs to be written the way it is.

Hell, I've seen Dallas benefit from it at least twice (reversed what would have been a Randy Moss TD catch in 2007 and on an overturned Philly interception in the 2009 playoffs).
 

boozeman

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More outrage over fricking air in a football than blatant robbery.
 

vince

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Guyz it's kewl. Some guy in jail is suing the NFL for $88 billion dollars over this.
 

fortsbest

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Jailed fan suing NFL for $88 billion over Dez Bryant catch
By Jared Dubin | CBSSports.com staff
January 23, 2015 12:00 pm ET
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24985932/jailed-fan-suing-nfl-for-88-billion-over-dez-bryant-catch

Colorado man Terry Hendrix is suing the NFL, Rodger Goodell, Dean Blandino and Gene Steratore, alleging "negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and also wreckless (sic) disregard". The damages requested: $88,987,654,321.88, a tip of the cap to his case at hand, which centers on the overturned catch by Dez Bryant that arguably swung the Cowboys-Packers divisional round playoff game.

Hendrix's -- handwritten -- suit states, "For the theft from and the loss of a Super Bowl, against and upon the hearts, minds, and souls of, but not limited to: Dez Bryant #88, the 2014/15 on-field offense of and to include all cheeerrrrleaders, fans of and all people in or from the sovereign republic of Texas, we the respondent(s) file this our notice of intent to file suit against and upon these respondent(s) captioned herein for the sum certain amount of money $88,987,654,321.88."

Hendrix's suit is handwritten because he is currently an inmate in the Colorado penal system. If the case is not immediately dismissed -- there is exactly a zero percent chance it is not immediately dismissed -- he might want to call Packers cornerback Sam Shields as a witness. Shields, who was covering Dez Bryant on the play, said on Thursday, “It was a catch. But the new rule and at the last minute what happened, that's what the refs came up with. I never said he didn't catch it. He made a helluva catch I was in great coverage. Like I said, it was good on good and he came up with the catch.”

Read Hendrix's suit below.

Terry Hendrix NFL Lawsuit
 

L.T. Fan

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I think it was a catch but i also think it's now history.
 

P_T

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The referees got it wrong TWICE! Both times Dez caught the ball.

Catch #1:

Dez went up and caught the ball, came down with possession, took three steps, was contacted by the defender, went to the ground where his knee touched, thereby making him down by contact. At which point the ground cannot cause a fumble.

Catch #2:

After Dez loses control the ball, the ball clearly never touches the ground therefore it remains a live ball, and as Dez is rolling over he never touches the sideline (which would have made him out of bounds) and the ball remains in the air, he then re-catches the ball in the endzone and holds on to it "through the process".


I cannot see how the NFL can stand behind this blantant screw up.
 

ravidubey

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The referees got it wrong TWICE! Both times Dez caught the ball.

Catch #1:

Dez went up and caught the ball, came down with possession, took three steps, was contacted by the defender, went to the ground where his knee touched, thereby making him down by contact. At which point the ground cannot cause a fumble.

Catch #2:

After Dez loses control the ball, the ball clearly never touches the ground therefore it remains a live ball, and as Dez is rolling over he never touches the sideline (which would have made him out of bounds) and the ball remains in the air, he then re-catches the ball in the endzone and holds on to it "through the process".


I cannot see how the NFL can stand behind this blantant screw up.
All of the above gets suspended by NFL rules while a receiver is "going to the ground" in "the process" of making a catch.

The only thing that can stop "going to the ground" is making a "football move". Multiple steps. Contact. Knee Down. Control. All doesn't matter because the ground can cause an incompletion.

So the question becomes was Dez' lunge for the goalline a "football move" or was he randomly landing?

Anyone who watches it at any speed can tell he's trying to control his fall and stretch forward so his arm lands as close to the goal line as possible. That's the way the ref, Sam Shields, and everyone watching at full speed saw it.

But somehow the replay refs are so up their own asses about this rule they forget their other rules like not overruling a referee without definitive proof that Dez didn't make a football move.
 

Clay_Allison

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All of the above gets suspended by NFL rules while a receiver is "going to the ground" in "the process" of making a catch.

The only thing that can stop "going to the ground" is making a "football move". Multiple steps. Contact. Knee Down. Control. All doesn't matter because the ground can cause an incompletion.

So the question becomes was Dez' lunge for the goalline a "football move" or was he randomly landing?

Anyone who watches it at any speed can tell he's trying to control his fall and stretch forward so his arm lands as close to the goal line as possible. That's the way the ref, Sam Shields, and everyone watching at full speed saw it.

But somehow the replay refs are so up their own asses about this rule they forget their other rules like not overruling a referee without definitive proof that Dez didn't make a football move.
Felt a lot like the refs wanted to make a "big call" in a "big moment". I think sometimes the power to alter a game and do something to become the story (when it's the opposite of what they should do) goes to an official's head.
 

ravidubey

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Felt a lot like the refs wanted to make a "big call" in a "big moment". I think sometimes the power to alter a game and do something to become the story (when it's the opposite of what they should do) goes to an official's head.
Yep. They are completely up their own asses, especially when it comes to this rule.
 
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