Report: Changes to catch rule to be proposed

The NFL's competition committee is planning to modify the league's controversial catch rule, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Troy Vincent, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, told the newspaper that two changes would be recommended -- nixing the going-to-the-ground provision and bolstering the standard for overturning a ruling on the field.

"Slight movement of the ball, it looks like we'll reverse that," Vincent told the Post. "Going to the ground, it looks like that's going to be eliminated. And we'll go back to the old replay standard of reverse the call on the field only when it's indisputable."

The proposal comes three weeks in the wake of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell lobbying for a change to the rule, noting that the going-to-the-ground proponent "is creating a lot of the confusion."

High-profile non-catches over the years have involved Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions in 2010, Dez Bryant of the Dallas Cowboys during a playoff game following the 2014 season and Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Jesse James against the New England Patriots in December.

"The Dez Bryant play, that'd be a catch" under the new proposal, said Vincent. "The Jesse James play, that'd be a catch."

Under the new catch rule, Vincent said the receiver would have to maintain control of the ball, but any slight movement of the ball would not result in an incompletion.

Also, the league will up the ante for overturning a catch. Rather than using a "clear and obvious" standard to change a catch per video review, the NFL will use the barometer of "indisputable visual evidence."

Any rule-change proposals are subject to the approval of all NFL owners and must receive 24 of 32 votes to implement them.

Vincent said the hope is to have the modifications ready to present to the owners in time for next week's annual NFL meetings in Orlando, Fla.