Sunday Night Atrociousness

[VarlosZ]

[ QUOTE ]
What's the deal w/ the touchdown that was overturned on replay? Looked to me like he caught it, took a couple of steps, then hit the ground and the ball came out.

The announcers said something about having to keep possession after hitting the ground.

I thought that as long as you had control and broke the plane, it was a touchdown.

What's the actual rule here?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a bit of a judgement call. If you catch it with two feet down while in the act of falling, and drop the ball when the you hit the ground, you're ruled never to have had possession in the first place (otherwise you wouldn't have lost it). OTOH, if you make a football action after catching it and getting both feet down, that's possession.

I guess the question is whether the receiver caught the ball, took two steps, then fell down and dropped it, or whether he caught the ball, happened to touch both feet down while falling, then lost it when he hit the ground.

I think it was a bad call, but it's close enough that I can't be outraged over it.