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Players With a Rules Because of Them: Jesse James
Athlon Sports
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6/16/2025
Remembering Jesse James making football history with a rule following his play
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🥇
Sports
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00:00
Players that have rules because of them. What is a catch? This question has eluded NFL referees
00:05
for years, and it led to an incredibly controversial ending during week 15 of the 2017 season.
00:12
The 10-3 Patriots were in Pittsburgh taking on the 11-2 Steelers with a fight for the one seed
00:16
on the line. Down three with just 52 seconds left, Steelers Juju Smith-Schuster would take a flat
00:21
route 70 yards all the way down to the Patriots 10-yard line, setting the Steelers up for at
00:25
least a field goal to tie the game. On first and 10, Ben Roethlisberger would find tight end Jesse
00:29
James at the one-yard line. James would get both feet down and reach across the goal line to get
00:33
the touchdown, giving the Steelers the three-point lead with less than 30 seconds left. However,
00:38
after a lengthy review, the refs ruled that the ball hit the ground when James extended to the end zone
00:43
and that it was not a catch, as James, quote, did not survive the ground. Two plays later, on a fake
00:49
spike attempt with time winding down, Ben Roethlisberger would throw the ball into heavy
00:52
traffic, getting picked off, and effectively ending the game. The Patriots would go on to get the one
00:57
seed over the Steelers and would make the Super Bowl, while the Steelers would get eliminated in
01:01
the division round. Because of this play and many other controversial calls in years past, the NFL's
01:06
rule committee met that offseason to decide to change what actually defined a catch. In 2018, they ruled
01:12
that receivers no longer must survive the ground, but merely just establish possession and make a
01:17
football move. Had this rule been in place in week 15, Jesse James would have caught the ball, and the
01:23
Steelers would have secured the one seed that season.
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