*Editor's note: This story originally published Dec. 11, 2015 and was brought back Jan. 11 of this year, the one-year anniversary of the catch that wasn't. The Cowboys visit the Packers on Sunday once again.

IRVING - Although it's been 336 days since the catch that wasn't in Green Bay, Dez Bryant is approached about the play on a regular basis.

It has happened at the grocery store, restaurants, on flights, in New York and Los Angeles; people still walk up to the All-Pro wide receiver and say: "I'm sorry to bother you, but it was a catch!"

Bryant certainly can't escape it when he's on social media. His Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts are bombarded with opinions on arguably the most controversial call of the 2014 season. Since it was determined that Bryant did not make the fourth-and-2 reception with 4:36 remaining in that divisional playoff game, the hashtag #dezcaughtit has been tweeted 55,000 times.

When Tony Romo joined Twitter in May, his second tweet was a photo of Bryant leaping to make the grab and the comment: "Looking back on it...it was a catch :)" It was retweeted 47,000 times.

With the Cowboys returning to the scene of the crime on Sunday, Bryant smiles when he talks about being prepared for the opposite -- Packers fans at Lambeau Field yelling in his direction: "It was not a catch!"

The star receiver says he has moved on from the play, but it wasn't an easy transition. Bryant admits that it took him more than a month to get it out of his system. The first two weeks that followed were the darkest.

Bryant didn't leave his home, but he also didn't go to his room. He stayed on the couch. He watched TV and slept, struggling to wrap his mind around the reality that the season ended in that fashion.

When discussing the play during training camp in late July, Bryant said he still had not seen the entire replay. He'd watch the beginning and then turn off the TV. He has since watched it in its entirety. And he still disagrees with the call.

The part that bothers Bryant most is that he caught the ball with two hands and didn't bobble it during the transfer or the reach for the goal line.

But if he had to do it over again, Bryant says he wouldn't have reached the ball out with one hand. He'd settle for keeping it pinned to his body and take the first down.

Of course, that's much easier to say standing in a locker room after practice than on a field with the fourth-quarter clock winding down during a playoff game. Is it realistic to expect a super-competitive athlete like Bryant to dial it back in that moment?

"I got that catch behind me," Bryant said. "There's nothing I can do. Why dwell on it? You can't dwell on something that you can't change. It is what it is. I'm going to go out there and work hard and try my best. That's all I can do."

Tweak of the language

The NFL's competition committee, which includes Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, reviewed the catch rule in the offseason. According to a source, during the owner's meetings in March, an AFC head coach suggested to the group that the rule be changed based solely off the Bryant play in Green Bay. However, the competition committee prefers to avoid changing a rule based off a single play.

The group ultimately elected to adjust the rule's language. It now states a receiver must establish himself as a runner before going to the ground. Previously, experts said a receiver must make a football move, a phrase often used to interpret the rule but one that is not in the rulebook.

And instead of saying a receiver must maintain control of the ball throughout the process of contacting the ground, the rule now states he must maintain control until after his initial contact with the ground.

Under the new guidelines, Bryant's play would still be ruled incomplete because the two-and-a-half steps he took while falling to the ground technically don't establish him as a runner.

But what about the common sense factor?

In the two most notable plays connected to the rule, Bryant's in Green Bay and Detroit wide receiver Calvin Johnson's overturned touchdown against Chicago in 2010, many argue that anyone watching the game, whether a football expert or not, would rule that the ball was caught in both instances.

No one should be surprised that Scott Linehan feels that way. After all, he was the offensive coordinator calling the plays during both of those overturned receptions.

"It's just hard to say that those great plays that were made weren't great plays, that they were actually not finished," Linehan said. "But what I think it does and you see guys doing it more and more when you go to the ground, regardless of whether you feel like you caught it, the ball has got to stay in possession. You can't reach for the goal line. You can't jump up and be happy and have the ball slip out of your hand. You've got to really be ultra aware of that. We coach that now, and it's tough."

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has assembled a committee to look at the catch rule in hopes of finding a "better solution." Bryant and Johnson have both volunteered to share their knowledge with the group.

According to USA TODAY Sports, the committee will consist of former head coaches Ken Whisenhunt, Jim Schwartz and Joe Philbin, former general manager Bill Polian, former NFL receiver James Thrash and former NFL side judge Tom Finken.

Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett chose his words carefully when he discussed the Bryant play this week. He understands the officials have a difficult job, but he'd like to see more clarity.

Until that happens, Garrett's advice to his players is to "keep the officials out of it" by never letting the ball touch the ground.

"Don't give them any opportunity to get involved in the play," he said. "We emphasize that a lot, and I think our players understand that part of it."

Was the call correct?

It might come as a surprise to some, but there are actually people outside of Green Bay who believe Bryant did not make the catch. They are called referees.

Former longtime NFL official Gerry Austin says the refs got the call correct last January.

When he saw the Bryant play for the first time, Austin said he immediately thought it was incomplete when the ball popped out.

"Dez Bryant is a fantastic talent," Austin said. "He has great ability. For the Cowboys, he's the best since Michael Irvin. But I've looked at it numerous times and I didn't see anything in that play where after he secured the ball and he was going to the ground that he did anything different than trying to make the catch.

"When he hit the ground, the force of hitting the ground caused the ball to come loose. That makes it an incomplete pass."

Austin, currently an officiating consultant with ESPN, called three Super Bowls during his 25 NFL seasons (1982-2007). He is in favor of the current catch rule and advises those seeking change to be cautious.

Austin says consistency is the key, and he believes the current rules have been consistent over the last decade.

To him, the guidelines for a catch are as simple as these four steps.

1. Secure control of the ball.

2. Clearly get two feet on the ground.

3. Make a move, do something different than what you're doing.

4. If you're going to the ground, you must keep the ball.

Some would argue that the NFL's officials should give a highlight play by a superstar player a little extra leeway, but Austin disagrees.

"No cheap catches, no cheap fumbles," he says. "When in question, wipe it out."

Let's keep it simple

Tim Brown caught 1,094 passes during his NFL career. The former Woodrow Wilson standout knows a catch when he sees one. He has watched the Bryant play many times. And every time, Brown says there's "no doubt that he caught the ball and possessed the ball."

"Only an NFL official would say that's not a catch," added the nine-time Pro Bowler and recent Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee.

Brown thinks the current catch rule takes things too far. As long as a receiver possesses the ball, meaning it is not bobbled, the former Raider and Buccaneer thinks it should be ruled a catch. If the ground can't cause a fumble, Brown doesn't think it should cause an incompletion if there is prior possession.

"I just think about all of the catches over the years that not only myself, but other players, would not have had if this rule was in place," he said. "It's a shame that when you see someone catch a ball and they go to the ground, you don't know if he has really caught the ball yet. You have to wait until the official comes and tells you. I just think they're really trying to do too much and making it way too complicated.

"It's just not how the game should be. I think John Madden said it best, 'If three guys sitting at a bar say it's a catch, it should be a catch.' That's about as simple as it should be."

And what if there are no rule changes in the offseason? What advice would Brown share with receivers like Bryant?

"Don't be an athlete," he said. "It's really just ridiculous that in the game of super athletes, you're asking some of these guys to calm their athleticism down because it can cost you a game.

"I think from that standpoint, they have to do some things differently, otherwise everybody is going to look at the NFL as being a joke."