The ground can indeed cause a fumble- ex: if a player is running in the open fields and trips (without being touched) and loses the ball after it hits the ground, it is a fumble. That said, this is totally different than Bryant call, and per current rules the ground can absolutely, 100% be cause for an incompletion call.
I'll say again though, I personally don't like the way they interpret these rules. I agree with most/all of what Brian says about rule changes. I don't however blame the refs as much as I blame the hyper reactive league rules committee and the commish. They've tried to make far too many drastic (and unrealistic) changes in too short a period, and the refs are being put in an increasingly difficult situation... especially with non reviewable calls like "hit on defenseless receiver", "leading with the crown", etc. So many of these calls completely change games- Niners lost to the Saints on a PF call last year, and in doing so lost home field throughout the playoffs due to the fact Ahmad Brooks' sack/fumble/recovery was reversed because Brees' head bucked back on the hit. No helmet to helmet, and prob 95% of Brooks' impact is on Brees chest (the only remaining target area on a QB) with the other 5% being about neck high (Brooks is probably 4-6 inches taller), but Brees head whipped back and made it look like he'd been smacked up high. All of this occurs in about 0.1 sec, and an official watching several things at once must make this determination immediately.
On that topic of shrinking target area on QB, one of my favorite ref highlights this season was Ed Hochuli (the totally ripped ref) called an "illegal hit to the chest" on a 3rd down hit of Russell Wilson. The hit was legal and was delivered to the ONLY legal area left, yet what would have been 4th down and an ensuing FG attempt turned into 1st down, followed by a game sealing TD. This year also saw league (commish) imposed points of emphasis on calling defensive holding (mostly cuz Seahawks were holding so much), illegal hands to face, etc. With this, the officials feel more and more pressure to NOT miss these calls, so in turn make far more of them. It's becoming harder and harder to watch... and if the league continues to insist on enforcing these, they need to allow a booth official to review the hit (sort of like college), and do in real time, independent of challenge.
This stuff is supposed to be for safety, but it is a joke because there's a clear pecking order on who's safety matters. Based on rules, QB is 1, WR is 2... then maybe O and D linemen. However, rules to protect one offensive player can make the game more dangerous for the other defensive player. I do not envy the predicament of a modern day DB. They've all played and been coached a certain way their whole lives (15-20 years), and have had to drastically change over the past 2-3... and frankly a lot of these changes are nearly impossible to execute. So many of these collisions happens in a split second and I've seen several of the following--- DB lowers target area but WR immediately lowers head too, thus DB's head hits WR's head--- 15 yards against DB for head to head... or worse, DB pulls up a little bit on what would have been a big hit, and gets laid out by a WR, TE, RB who's still allowed to lower his head (see Adrian Peterson)... or even worse, he try to pull up in an awkward way and blows out his knee. Over the next few years, maybe these rules will work and the rate of concussions will go down.. but I think in trade, the rate of severe leg injuries will go up because a safety knows he won't get flagged and can still make the tackle if he goes low (see TJ Ward).
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