After Further Review: Jets-Broncos Officiating

By popular demand, we're again going to have a post after each game that breaks down some of the controversial decisions from the officiating crew in the game.

Penalty Count

Broncos 4-34 (leading to one Jets first down)
Jets 11-85 (leading to four Broncos first downs)

Note: This does not include penalties that are declined or off-set.

Plays where the call was obvious, uncontroversial or not visible on broadcast footage

Jets Penalties

  • Holding on Garrett Wilson on an outside run. Reached across the defensive back and hooked him across his neck.
  • Jacob Martin false start on a punt. Flinched before the snap.
  • John Franklin-Myers offside. Flinched before the snap and had arguably lined up in the neutral zone anyway.
  • Vinny Curry roughing the passer. Came in a step late and made a forcible hit with his shoulder. The hit wasn't to the head or neck area and the penalty was more for the lateness than the aspect of a possible launch.
  • Duane Brown false start. Flinched on 2nd-and-2. The only one of his three penalties that was a good call.
  • Nate Herbig offensive holding. Held onto his man as the runner cut back in the hole.

Broncos Penalties

  • Eric Saubert false start. Moved early. Notable only because it was their first penalty and came with less than five minutes left in the first half. That's after the Broncos (who entered the game as the only team with more penalty yards than the Jets) had 151 yards of penalties on Monday night.
  • Illegal formation penalty, again involving Saubert. The broadcast missed the snap but apparently the tight end and wide receiver were both on the line on the same side.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

  • Illegal man downfield on Nate Herbig. Lazily leaked a few yards downfield as Zach Wilson evaded a sack and then tossed the ball out of bounds to make it an incompletion instead of going out of bounds for a loss. It was a smart play by Wilson, but Herbig being past the line gave the Broncos a choice of 3rd-and-10 or 2nd-and-15. They declined the penalty.
  • Solomon Thomas defensive holding on a running play. This looked like a bad call, although you can see why it was made. Thomas took on a double-team and then one of the linemen (Quinn Meinerz) leaked out to the second level. It looked like maybe Thomas had grabbed him to prevent him peeling off, but actually he was just naturally engaging the double and let go of Meinerz before he peeled off. This gave Denver a first down instead of 3rd-and-5.
  • Lamarcus Joyner defensive holding. The contact here was initiated by the tight end Greg Dulcich running down the seam, but then Joyner did hook him as he tried to make a break.
  • Denzel Mims offensive pass interference to negate a first down screen to Braxton Berrios. Contact was definitely made while the ball was in the air. You can't make contact more than a yard downfield until the ball is caught.
  • Brown false start. An awful call. Baron Browning moved first and was in the neutral zone when Brown moved.
  • Brown holding penalty. Another awful call. Brown sealed a man inside on an outside run and he lost his balance and slipped to the floor. There was no grab apparent at all from Brown, who just shoved him.

Broncos Penalties

  • Dre'Mont Jones offside. It looked like he flinched but never crossed into the neutral zone. However, DeShawn Williams did appear to have lined up in the neutral zone, so justice was arguably done.
  • Pass interference on K'Waun Williams. This was the play where a wayward Wilson pass was dropped by the safety, but Braxton Berrios was hooked as he made his break down the field. Whether Berrios could have made a play on the ball is another matter.

Notable no-calls etc

Here were some of the notable missed calls, controversial moments or review situations:

  • On a first down swing pass to Berrios, he went in motion and wasn't set for a second before the snap. Also, CJ Uzomah got away with the most blatant of illegal blocks in the back on the same play.
  • Corey Davis easily could have been called for holding to negate the Breece Hall touchdown.
  • The Jets got lucky on a potential Wilson fumble which would have been a touchdown. Zach would have been down by contact, but he used the ball to keep his balance so was potentially not down as the ball came loose. The call on the field was down by contact, which was lucky because his forearm was down, but the ball was starting to come loose as it did, so if it was called a fumble on the field, that easily could have stood.
  • The officials made the right call on a Brett Rypien slide at the first down marker because he began his slide short of the marker.
  • Brandin Echols was lucky to have had an illegal contact flag picked up. He leaned on his man more than five yards downfield but the ball was thrown so quickly that it was out of Rypien's hand before the receiver was five yards downfield. It could therefore only be pass interference and leaning on a guy in this manner was clearly seen to be acceptable.
  • Courtland Sutton should have been called for offensive pass interference on the play where Sauce Gardner almost intercepted the pass in the end zone. He obviously impeded his attempt to make a play on the ball with a grab.
  • Ace Carter got a bad spot when he was marked a yard short of the marker despite appearing to have reached the marker at the end of his run.
  • DeShawn Williams got away with a couple of late hits diving on piles, including one on third down on Wilson.
  • CJ Mosley's interception was overturned by the replay booth despite being called good on the field. Fortunately, this didn't matter because it seemed like a bad overturn.

Let us know what we missed - or misinterpreted - in the comments...