So even if the player made the catch it doesn’t matter to whether it’s fair to call targeting.

Whether the play was potentially dangerous or likely to cause a concussion is the relevant consideration for targeting.

Different from say, pass interference that way.

You could think of it more like a taunting penalty (which we also saw in that game). Makes no difference to the play, but that’s not the purpose of the rule. It’s to penalize behavior that we don’t want in football. In targeting’s case, for safety reasons.