Dez Bryant knows a little something about hauling in big catches at Lambeau Field. He’s also intimately familiar with the NFL’s “surviving the ground” rules that define what is and isn’t a catch.
Bryant was the center of a playoff controversy in 2014 when what could have been a go-ahead fourth-and-two touchdown reception with 4:46 to play n a Divisional Round game was instead ruled an incompletion despite looking, well, a hell of a lot like a catch. Instead, the Packers got a boost from the league’s eternal struggle to determine what is and is not a catch and marched toward their typical postseason disappointment in the NFC title game days afterward.
Six-plus years later, Green Bay was the backdrop for another controversial non-catch when Romeo Doubs hauled in an Aaron Rodgers rainbow but couldn’t control it to the ground:
Bryant was watching — and he knew how familiar the whole thing felt.
That’s the catch all over again!
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) October 2, 2022
Here’s Bryant’s non-catch that sent the Cowboys packing from the 2014 NFL Playoffs:
Pretty similar! Doubs’ drop forced Sunday’s game between the Patriots and Packers — a game in which Green Bay was a 9.5-point favorite against New England’s third-string quarterback — to overtime. While the ruling won’t have nearly the same impact it did on Bryant years ago, it still looks pretty damaging for the Packers in Week 4.
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