The NFL isn't changing the way the "catch rule" will be called, but they hope to have explained it a little bit better.
The catch/no-catch debate has gone on within the league for 10-15 years, according to NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino, and has continued to escalate in recent seasons with the innovations of video replay.
"The catch rule has been obviously a subject for debate, and what we try to do is just make it clearer as to what the time element is," Blandino told SiriusXM NFL Radio on Thursday. "A catch is control, then two feet (down in bounds), then time. And we all tend to agree, for the most part, on control and two feet. But it's that time element that becomes gray.
"How long does the player have to have the ball after the second foot is down? So what we try to do in the (rule) book is put some language in, some things that are tangible that you can look at. So after the second foot is down, does the player tuck the ball away? Does he turn upfield? Does he have the ability to avoid contact, whether that's using his off arm to attempt to stiff-arm a defender."
The NFL has said before that the problem with the rule isn't with the officials, but rather with the understanding of how the rule is supposed to be enforced.
According to the 2016 NFL rule book:
ARTICLE 3. COMPLETED OR INTERCEPTED PASS. A player who makes a catch may advance the ball. A forward pass is complete (by the offense) or intercepted (by the defense) if a player, who is inbounds:
(a) secures control of the ball in his hands or arms prior to the ball touching the ground; and
(b) touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands; and
(c) maintains control of the ball after (a) and (b) have been fulfilled, until he has the ball long enough to clearly become a runner. A player has the ball long enough to become a runner when, after his second foot is on the ground, he is capable of avoiding or warding off impending contact of an opponent, tucking the ball away, turning up field, or taking additional steps (see 3-2-7-Item 2).
Note: If a player has control of the ball, a slight movement of the ball will not be considered a loss of possession. He must lose control of the ball in order to rule that there has been a loss of possession.
If the player loses the ball while simultaneously touching both feet or any part of his body to the ground, it is not a catch.
Blandino clarified that no changes have been made to how the rule is to be officiated, but the language has been changed in an effort to make it clearer.
"So its some things that fans and coaches and players, and, most importantly, officials can look at and use to make a decision that that receiver has now transitioned to a runner and now he has possession," said Blandino. "So if the ball comes loose after that, it's a fumble versus an incomplete pass. So, really, not a change to how the rule is being officiated, but it's just trying to make it clearer, trying to give our officials and everybody else just some things that they can look for when we're looking at these plays because these are plays that have been debated over the past couple of years."
The NFL is running its annual Officiating Academy in Dallas this weekend, where officials will be trained and developed on new rules and refreshed on old ones.