Catch by Transitive Property of Possession?

I don't want to talk about the play. I have to talk about the play and I've finally calmed down enough to do so. When I sat down to write this, my plan was to only write about the residual effects of the call, but there has been so much false information floating out there, I have to sort some things out in writing to at least clear my own head.

First of all, there is no controversy about whether it was a touchdown or not. I don't want to go through the play frame by frame, because I know the large majority of you either watched it or heard a hundred different renditions of what happened. It is painfully clear a touchdown should not have been called, especially now that the rules allow for all scoring plays to be reviewed. If you would like a more detailed account and analysis of the play, this edition of Sports Science is one of the best I've seen.

Sorry about the awful quality, this is only complete version I could find:

"After further review, it was a fucking interception!" A catch in the NFL requires three things: (1) Secure control of the ball. (2) Touch the ground in-bounds with both feet or any part of the body. (3) Maintain control of the ball throughout the catch. As the video explains, Jennings was the first to establish two points of contact on the ball with control; the basic definition of possession. Additionally, Jennings sustained possession by following through with the catch all the way to the ground by maintaining control and keeping two feet in bounds. It is not a simultaneous catch, because Tate doesn't establish a second point of contact on the ball (no is sure if he ever did) until after Jennings had possession. Therefore, there is no tie and Tate cannot be awarded the touchdown. 

People keep bringing up the offensive pass interference on the last play. While the interference did occur, it's not reviewable. Also, I've heard the argument that the precedent is to not call pass interference on Hail Mary plays at the end of games, so the refs were correct in not throwing a flag. The first part is actually true; however, the precedent (assuming the new refs even knew of it) is only in place because there are usually multiple instances of pass interference on such plays and a clear call is difficult to make.  This was not at all the case here. The defense played clean coverage until first contact with the ball was made; there was a single, clear-cut instance of offensive pass interference on the play. It should have been called, but the interference had nothing to do with the eventual ignorant interpretation of the rules.

This is probably the most trivial of all my points, but the second official did not signal incomplete, interception or to stop the clock. As far as I know, there is no signal for interception in the NFL, only a signal for a touchdown and a catch. The signal he gave was for a touchback, for which the only logical conclusion is an interception in this instance.

At this point, unfortunately, the facts don't make a difference. The league is firm in its decision to uphold the Seahawks victory and all the petitions and threatening phone calls to the commissioner's office aren't going to change anything.

But as I wrap this up, the real NFL season is now underway. The veteran refs are back and the replacement refs are back in their mothers' basements and their Lingerie League jobs. And as the Browns prepare to lose to the Ravens, I would like to point out that the first penalty called in this game was against the Browns defense in Baltimore. Good call refs. I guess the standing ovation before kickoff wasn't enough; way to set yourselves up for another round of cheers.

It thoroughly sucks that the integrity of the NFL demanded a Packers loss as a price, but the return of the refs is a huge relief for everyone and I'm thrilled it got done. One last awesome thing to come out of this debacle is all the memes. There are some really clever ones out there and I was inspired to make a couple myself:

-De