The NFL’s catch rule would get less complicated if team owners approve recommendations from the powerful competition committee.

One of the first orders of business when the league’s annual meetings begin Monday in Orlando Leonard Williams Jersey Youth , Florida, will be a proposal by the committee to clarify what is a catch. Commissioner Roger Goodell said during the week of the Super Bowl he would urge simplification of the rules.

”Catch/no catch is at the top of everyone’s minds,” Troy Vincent, the NFL’s football operations chief, said Wednesday before outlining the committee’s recommendations.

The owners will be asked to vote on clarifications that eliminate parts of the rule involving a receiver going to the ground, and that also eliminate negating a catch for slight movement of the ball while it is in the receiver’s possession. No calls in the last few years – not even pass interference – have caused more consternation than overturned catches in key situations, including those by Dez Bryant, Jesse James and Austin Seferian-Jenkins.

”We were at the point as far as players and particularly coaches who asked, `Why is that not a catch?”’ Vincent said. ”We talked to fans, coaches and players and we asked the groups, `Would you like this to be a catch?’ It was 100 percent yes.

”Then we began writing rules that actually apply to making these situations catches.”

Here’s what would constitute a catch if the owners approve the competition committee’s alterations:

– control of the ball;

– getting two feet down;

– performing a football act or;

– performing a third step.

The stipulation that slight movement of the ball while the receiver still has control no longer would result in an incompletion. Vincent pointed to the touchdown catch by the Philadelphia Eagles‘ Corey Clement in the Super Bowl as an example of a player never losing possession of the ball despite slight movement.

”That’s what the fans, coaches and players want Authentic Mark Stone Jersey ,” Vincent said. ”They are the magical moments people are looking for, and that includes all of those (plays). It’s the biggest (proposed change). Why we want this is this is one call shaping results across the sport.”

Richard Sherman, the star cornerback who recently was cut by Seattle and signed with San Francisco, approves cleaning up the rules.

”I’m in favor of it because it gives the refs more clarity,” Sherman said. ”I think anytime you can give the referees more of a straight line, an edge, to call plays, I think it’s better for the game.

”I think obviously there’s been a lot of scrutiny on the catch rule. Last year, my team was at the wrong end of it. A guy caught the ball and ran three or four steps, put his hand in the ground, fell, fumbled the ball and nobody touched him Billy Price Jersey Elite , and they said it was an incomplete pass. It was the most ridiculous thing I think I’ve ever seen.

”I think that they need to do more rules like that. They need to take the gray area out of a lot more rules because the rule book is getting too crazy. It’s getting too extensive. Every year, the refs are getting scrutinized left and right when it’s a bang-bang play. This game is happening at a million miles an hour and there’s really nothing you can do about it. The rule book is so complex. How many times can you think of 1,500 rules in a second of a play and see which ones apply to that particular play? So, I think any time they can simplify the rule book and simplify the ref’s understanding and the public’s understanding is better for the game.”

Competition committee members are chairman Rich McKay, president of the Falcons; Broncos general manager John Elway; Cowboys COO Stephen Jones; Giants owner John Mara; Packers President Mark Murphy; Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome; Saints coach Sean Payton and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.

They also are recommending:

– expanding protection of a runner, which also involves quarterbacks when they have given themselves up as a runner. Vincent cited Kiko Alonso’s hit on Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco last season, saying the NFL must avoid an ”unnecessary shot.”

”This is strictly a safety move,” Vincent said.

– allowing the officiating staff at NFL headquarters in New York, using video review, to call for an ejection of a player committing an egregious non-football act. That would include throwing punches or being involved in a fight. Vincent pointed to acts by Rob Gronkowski and Mike Evans last season.

Vincent said there were no discussions within the competition committee regarding protocol for the pregame national anthem. Owners are expected to take up the subject on Monday or Tuesday, but no decisions are likely.

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AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report.

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The San Jose Sharks won the first three games of their first-round series against the Anaheim Ducks thanks to having more speed, better depth http://www.texansauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jordan-akins-jersey , and discipline.

They completed the sweep thanks largely to Martin Jones.

Jones frustrated the Ducks with stellar plays over the final two periods and Tomas Hertl answered Anaheim’s only goal midway through the third with a game-winner just over a minute later, sending the Sharks into the second round with a 2-1 victory in Game 4 on Wednesday night.

”It’s tough to play an elimination game when you got an opportunity to sweep a really good team like that,” San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. ”You rarely see sweeps. That’s because there’s so much parity and the other teams are so evenly matched. This is a tough game to play. I thought we had some good moments and some moments we didn’t handle well, but we found a way, and that’s been the story all year.”

Hertl scored just 1:16 after the Ducks finally got a puck past Jones when he deflected a point shot from Marc-Edouard Vlasic past John Gibson. San Jose then held on to advance to the second round against the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.

Fourth-line winger Marcus Sorensen had a goal for the third straight game to open the scoring for San Jose and Jones did most of the rest of the work with 30 saves. He robbed Corey Perry several times and got help from a replay review that negated an apparent tying goal early in the third.

”When you play a team up against the wall like that you know they’re going to come with a push,” Jones said. ”They gave us everything they had and it was tough but the guys did a great job. We had a couple of huge penalty kills, some huge blocked shots. It was a gutsy way to win there.”

Andrew Cogliano scored the lone goal for the Ducks, who were outscored 16-4 in the series and swept for the first time since 1999 against Detroit. Gibson finished with 22 saves.

”We came at them pretty hard, obviously a couple of bounces here and there and it’s a different hockey game,” captain Ryan Getzlaf said. ”Their goaltender played absolutely outstanding, we just couldn’t get it by him.”

Gibson was unable to match the play of Jones, who had a shutout in Game 1 Customized Chicago Bears Jerseys , set a San Jose playoff record with 45 regulation saves in Game 3 and posted a .970 save percentage for the series. He was at his best in the clincher that gave the Sharks their second sweep in franchise history after also doing it in the first round in 2013 against Vancouver.

Jones robbed Perry with a pad stop early in the second and then again twice in one sequence later in the period. Anaheim looked poised to capitalize on a late power play in the period but Jones stopped Perry once again with a sprawling pad save.

”It definitely was our best game and it still wasn’t enough,” Perry said. ”You play this way the first couple of games you never know what would happen, that’s the frustrating part.”

Getzlaf then finally got a puck past Jones, although it came a fraction of a second after the final buzzer. Referee Eric Furlatt emphatically waved the goal off on the ice and Getzlaf could only lean on the goal in frustration over the failed opportunity.

That frustration only grew as the power play continued into the third period. Rickard Rakell appeared to tie the game with a one-timer but the Sharks challenged the zone entry and the officials ruled Perry and Rakell were offside after video review.

Cogliano finally scored for Anaheim off a feed from Ryan Kesler but the good feeling didn’t last long before Hertl responded.

That led to chants of ”We want Vegas!” and ”Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!” down the stretch at the sold out Shark Tank.

”Any time you can score a goal after they score one pretty quickly, it kind of deflates their bench,” forward Logan Couture said. ”We get energy again. It brings energy back in the rink. Definitely felt good.”

Even though the Ducks were the team facing elimination, the Sharks looked more desperate at the start. San Jose got the first seven shots on goal in the game and took the early lead with another contribution from the fourth line.

Sorensen, who spent most of the season in the AHL, took the rebound of Brent Burns‘ point shot and scored his third goal of the series less than six minutes into the game.

NOTES: Perry had no points in the series. … Linesman Brad Kovachik left the game in the first period with an injury and was replaced by Mark Shewchyk. … San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan opened the dressing room door to lead the Sharks onto the ice pregame.

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