The rule is easy to understand...doesn't mean I agree 100% with it. The way it's called is simple: if contact is made with the receiver in the process of making the catch, the offensive player MUST maintain possession all the way to the ground. Unfortunately, they don't give officials the ability to use judgement with that call. One of the few rules that still favors the defense...
Except that's only a tiny piece of the actual rule. Add in things like "football move" and having no established amount of time that constitutes a player having caught the ball, and then changing to a runner...the rule, as it currently is, is basically different depending on the ref on the field.
Plenty of times this year, two games have a near identical play, with opposite outcomes.
Personally, I don't care what they decide, I just want consistency. I don't care if they decide that you have to take 7 steps, do a pirouette and then hop on one foot. As long as whatever they do can be consistently applied by all refs, and they all come up with the same result, I'm fine with it. That's not how it is now, and that's the maddening part of it.
In addition, the supposed emphasis on not changing a ruling unless the replay shows clear and unmistakably that the call was wrong is also not applied. Instead, it seems to be pretty much whatever they feel like in the moment.
As a fan, it's frustrating. I'm sure players and coaches would use much more colorful words.
