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Dirk Koetter likes new NFL catch rule; it’s ‘way more definitive’

Bucs coach hopes simplification of what constitutes a catch will make it less an issue moving forward.
 
Published March 27, 2018

ORLANDO — When Dirk Koetter first got into coaching, he was briefly a high school coach in Idaho, and with no replay review and elaborate rules, it seemed much easier to know if a play was a catch or an incompletion.

The NFL is streamlining its process for determining a catch, and the Bucs head coach said Tuesday that he likes the new approach, hopefully taking away a point of contention on key plays across the league last season.

"I like it," Koetter said. "When they were showing us the clips, I was chuckling to myself. I was a high school coach. We had no replay. It wasn't hard to figure out what a catch was. A catch is a catch."

The new criteria still requires securing the ball and getting two feet inbounds (or another body part that's not the hands), but now, all that's required is a "football move" — as simple as reaching out for the goal line or line to gain, taking another step or tucking the ball away. There are no separate rules for sideline or end-zone catches with the change.

"Don't make me quote it," Koetter said of the changes, expected to be voted on and approved this week.

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"They're making it a lot more definitive," Koetter said. "The officials have to call it in real time, but when it does go to replay, they're making it way more definitive."