NFL owners and league officials were in Orlando last week for their annual owner's meetings right before the draft. They discussed topics such as player safety, the league's current state, and of course, possible rule changes. Not every rule that gets put on the table during these meetings is expected to pass for the upcoming season, but there are reoccurring topics that come up every year that become the talk of the meetings. For the past few seasons, it's been the catch rule. Since the controversy around the Calvin Johnson catch in 2010, the NFL and its competition committee set out to clarify the catch rule majorly in 2011 and 2014 but came up short.

The NFL, again, restates what constitutes a catch

According to ESPN, the newest catch rule that the NFL has approved is designed to avoid specific instances such as that of the Johnson catch, the Dez Bryant catch in 2014, and the Jesse James catch in 2017 as the most recent occurrence.

The idea of "surviving the ground" has been scrapped. The new terms of the rule, that applies to players who remain standing or those falling to the ground, asserts that a receiver must control the ball, get two feet down, and make a "football move." The football move should be along the lines of a third step or a lunge. NFL Competition committee chairman, Rich McKay, told ESPN that the rule is designed to be objective.

There could be a debate that remains at the helm of the newest rule. "Does the receiver perform a football move?"

Did the NFL use the new catch rule in Super Bowl LII?

There are reports out of ESPN that referees and officials in the league review center in New York may have used the legislation of the new NFL catch rule in the latest Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Philidelphia Eagles.

The reporting comes from ESPN's Chris Mortensen and Sal Paolantonio.

Paolantonio started off by describing his conversation with Al Riveron, the NFL's Senior Vice President of Officiating.

Paolantonio said Riveron made it quite clear that while reviewing the Zach Ertz and Corey Clement touchdown that the review center in New York was "legislating on the fly during the Super Bowl."

Ben Volin of the Boston Globe asked Rodger Goodell at the press conference in Orlando in which Volin noted what Troy Vincent, Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the NFL, said on the Dan Patrick Show.

Goodell decided to refer the question to Riveron.

Vincent was explaining to Dan Patrick on the show that a call should be overturned if there is slight movement of the ball.

"We removed and got out of the business of slight movement. Because you can have movement but still be in control. The Clement play in the Super Bowl was the best example," said Vincent.

Under the old rule, a slight movement of the ball means that even a play such as the Clement play during the Super Bowl should have been overturned. Though, Vincent said that they dropped that aspect of the rule, just as they did with the newest rule change that constitutes a catch.

Riveron contests that they did not bend the rules during the NFL's most important game of the season.
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