ORLANDO, Fla. -- First there was the "Mel Blount Rule," which made it illegal for NFL defensive backs to make contact with receivers down the field because of Blount's aggressive bump-and-run coverage
Then, there was the "Hines Ward Rule," which made a blindside block illegal if it comes from the blocker's helmet, forearm or shoulder and lands to the head or neck area of the defender after the Steelers' receiver broke the jaw of Cincinnati's Keith Rivers with such a play.
This week, the NFL passed another rule at its annual meeting that directly involved a Steelers player, though it didn't call the new rules regarding what is and isn't a catch the "Jesse James Rule."
That, however, won't stop the Steelers from calling it that.
"At least in Pittsburgh, I think it will," team president Art Rooney II said when I asked him if it will be known as the Jesse James Rule.
The new catch rule would now make James' play against the New England Patriots last December a legal catch. Under the old rules, the play, which was originally ruled a catch on the field, was overturned by replay officials because James momentarily lost control of the football when he contacted the ground while lunging for the end zone.
Instead of a go-ahead 10-yard touchdown catch with less than 30 seconds remaining, the ball was placed back at the New England 10 and the Steelers failed to score, with Ben Roethlisberger throwing a game-ending interception two plays later off a tipped pass.
James was happy with the rule change.
"It is going to bother me forever,” James told Steelers.com. “It’s just one of those plays, defining moments in a career and season for sure. It put a loss on our stat sheet. That one hurt. Especially the way they officiate these things. It’s like the officials are tossing a coin and see what it is they like and then they call it. You see the play, it was talked about every week because of how controversial it was. It seemed like every week since then there was a catch that had been ruled similarly. Similar catch, not the same results."
That will no longer be the case. The way the new rule reads, players who secure a pass, as James did, and then lunge forward, can have the ball make contact with the ground as long as they do not lose control of it. Players also will be granted a catch in those situations even if the ball moves momentarily in those situations, as long as they regain control.
Those instances were often where catches would be overturned by replay officials because of the language of the old rules.
Mike Tomlin, who helped come up with the new rule as part of the NFL Competition Committee, said the league wanted to simplify things and make what is and isn't a catch more obvious. So the committee basically started from scratch, scrapping nearly all of the old language involved in determining a catch.
"I think that the language element of it is a critical element of it. You have to find an appropriate and thoughtful language that fits the obscure and the unforeseen and that is what makes the process a difficult one," Tomlin said. "I believe we all can look at a catch and know what a catch is but to come up with the appropriate language for the obscure and the unforeseen has been the task and I have been comfortable with what we have been able to get done. The play has been officiated and graded at real speed. I think some of the issues come in replay and with high def. I think that has been the challenge in terms of some of the language to be appropriate for some of the things that replay provides us."
