if a receiver had possession it was ruled a catch. More like the baseball rule than today's NFL. I was watching one of the early SB films the other day and a guy caught it and almost immediately was hit and lost the ball. It was ruled a fumble and the other team took over. No hint of controversy or complaining from the WR or his teammates. Today it would easily be incomplete. Johnson's catch was controversial but IIRC most agreed it was the correct call. He had possession and broke the plane - TD (in 1977). One other play I remember from that era was Mel Gray of the Cards in a big game catching the ball in the end zone, holding it for an instant and dropping it. That too was ruled a TD and generated a lot of discussion.
Honestly from all my years of watching football the Johnson and Gray plays were the only real controversies I remember over what constituted a catch until the recent "football move" era.
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Honestly from all my years of watching football the Johnson and Gray plays were the only real controversies I remember over what constituted a catch until the recent "football move" era.