Stay with me on this. I remember the Dallas Cowboys' first Super Bowl appearance against the Baltimore Colts in 1971 (I guess that would have been IV, and the 'Boys lost on a last-second Jim O'Brien field goal. Yeah, I'm old, but my memory's still pretty good.). Anyway, I remember that a key play was a controversial catch made by the Colts' tight end, John Mackey. What was controversial about it was that Mackey had caught the pass after it had been deflected by another Colt player. Evidently the rule at that time was that a receiver could not legitimately make a reception after it had been tipped by another offensive player unless it had been touched by a defensive player in between the two offensive touches. The replay showed that a Dallas defender had indeed tipped the ball between the first Colt receiver's tip and Mackey's catch. Had there not been an intervening touch by the Cowboy player, the pass would have been ruled incomplete even though Mackey caught the ball. In yesterday's game there is no question the ball was tipped by one TCU player to the other without being touched by a defensive player. So, my question is: Has this rule been changed over the years, or was it just an NFL rule not applicable to the collegiate game? That whole Cowboy/Colt scenario ran through my mind immediately when the play happened yesterday, and I couldn't help but wonder about it.
