Most people expected the Pittsburgh Steelers to blow out the New York Giants, but the game actually game down the wire. It wasn’t like the Steelers’ offense wasn’t making plays either. George Pickens had two touchdowns in the 26-18 win called back, and had they counted, the game may have been less stressful. The second play was truly backbreaking, with Pickens tapping one foot twice, but not getting his other foot down, resulting in an incompletion. Analyst Mike Florio believes that the rule needs to be given a long look.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re hopping around on one foot,” Florio said Tuesday on his Pro Football Talk podcast. “You can hop all the way down the field. You catch a pass, and you can pogo stick all the way down the field. If the other foot never hits the ground, the catch has never been made, by rule.
“Maybe they need to look at that rule. Maybe two feet, not both feet, two steps, not both feet. If you have it long enough to take two steps with the same leg, maybe that should be enough for it to be a catch.”
That is an interesting suggestion. Over the years, the NFL has altered the rule on what is and is not a catch multiple times. Even after all of that, it still isn’t totally clear what constitutes a reception sometimes. Steelers fans likely remember all the controversy surrounding Jesse James’ failed touchdown against the New England Patriots.
Things have gotten slightly clearer since then, but sometimes, a play will be ruled not a catch that leaves some of the audience confused. By rule, Pickens’ touchdown should not have counted, but many will argue that it should have. Pickens didn’t tap his other foot, but he did control the ball and tap one foot twice.
Perhaps the NFL could change the rule, or at least take a look at it this offseason. If a player controls the ball and has the time to tap one foot twice, maybe it should count as a catch.
However, that might be a can of worms the NFL does not want to open. If it tweaks the catch rule slightly this time, then when will the changes end? Would that kind of change just make football more complicated? There’s probably too much uncertainty around what would happen for the NFL to actually alter the rule.
It’s not like that part of the rule is a problem either. Tapping two feet seems fine. You could argue that Pickens should have had the wherewithal to bring his other foot down. That’s probably easier said than done, but receivers have made much more improbable toe taps in the past. Just look at Santonio Holmes.
Ultimately, the play didn’t cost the Steelers, and now everyone should have a solid understanding that it’s both feet, not one foot twice. If every rule got changed because a freak play exposed a flaw, then the NFL would be unrecognizable.
