After Further Review: Jets-Browns

by Site Admin

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

Browns 6-30 (leading to zero Jets first downs)

Jets 10-102 (leading to three Browns 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

  • Tim Patrick holding on the first snap of the game to negate a 13-yard Braelon Allen run. Patrick's man beat him into the backfield and he grabbed him before Allen bounced it the other way.
  • Minkah Fitzpatrick face mask penalty. The runner was already on the way down when Fitzpatrick clearly grabbed the face mask, removing the helmet completely. Obvious call here.
  • Armand Membou false start. CBS missed the snap here and didn't show a replay, so we can't comment on this one.
  • Jordan Meredith holding on a run that was stopped near the line anyway. Meredith got driven back into the backfield and was basically shoved over so he took his man down with him.
  • Joe Tippmann offensive holding on a 2nd-and-10 incompletion near midfield. Interestingly the Browns opted for 2nd-and-20 instead of 3rd-and-10 and the Jets picked up the first down before ultimately fumbling it away in the red zone. Tippmann was completely beaten in pass protection and took down his man from behind.
  • Meredith false start. Came up out of his stance a beat early.

Browns Penalties

  • Too many men on the field. The NFL's most penalized team entering Sunday finally got their first call against them for having 12 men out there on an Isaiah Davis run that was stopped at the line of scrimmage, with 2:42 remaining in the first half.
  • Austin Barber offensive holding to negate a six-yard gain on a screen pass. Jowon Briggs got in position to make the play at the line but Barber grabbed him and held on too long.
  • Dawand Jones illegal formation. Was too far back off the line of scrimmage; a call which the biggest tackles in the league, of which Jones is one, seem to get called for more often because it's so obvious.
  • Delay of game on 2nd-and-25. Simply didn't get the play off on time.
  • Delay of game on 3rd-and-6 in the last minute. No 10-second run-off because the clock was stopped. Same as before, they just didn't get it off.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

  • Fitzpatrick unnecessary roughness for a helmet-to-helmet hit on a defenseless receiver. Fitzpatrick's reaction indicated that he felt this was a clean hit and the replay showed that he did lead with the shoulder, but the force of the hit cause his helmet to collide with KC Concepcion's to knock him out of the game. Browns fans felt this was dirty, although they already hate Fitzpatrick because of some previous incidents, and this fell well short of being ejection-worthy, especially since he did lead with the shoulder and made contact initially lower than the head/neck area. However, when a receiver is defenseless you can't be recklessly forcible with your hit, and it's justifiable that they would want to legislate such hits out of the game.
  • Joe Tippmann false start. Honestly couldn't see any movement here from Tippmann or anyone else. Most likely it was actually a flinch on the snap by Josh Myers and the official forgot that Tippmann doesn't play center any more and called his number incorrectly.
  • Malik McClain fair catch interference. This arguably wasn't so much fair catch interference as a late hit, not that the penalty would be any different. The return man caught the ball and then McClain tackled him, not realizing that he had called for a fair catch. Of course you can be penalized for an illegitimate fair catch signal if your wave isn't clear enough - much like Isaiah Williams was in the Packers game - but the fact McClain didn't see this probably had more to do with a lack of visibility in the wet conditions.
  • Brandon Stephens defensive pass interference. From what was shown on the broadcast footage, Stephens seemed to slip and maybe put out a hand and made contact with the receiver as he steadied himself on the way down but there was no apparent grab or impediment to the receiver's ability to catch the ball so this was an obvious blown call - unless there was a grab earlier on that the replays did not catch.

Browns Penalties

  • Maliek Collins offside to negate a Geno Smith interception. Smith knew he had a free play so this was a deliberate jump ball. Collins bit on the hard count, as did Carson Schwesinger, reducing a 3rd-and-12 to 3rd-and-7. Although they failed to convert this did move the ball close enough to set up Jason Sanders' long field goal.

Notable no-calls etc

Here were some of the other notable missed calls, replay situations and controversial moments:

  • On the Garrett Wilson touchdown, Kenyon Sadiq could arguably have been called for offensive pass interference, as he got in the way of a defender trying to get across to cover Wilson. He did enough to make this look like just a natural consequence of his route assignment though.
  • The non-call on Malachi Corley's obvious late hit after Isaiah Williams' fair catch was maddening, especially in light of McClain being penalized in a similar situation. Williams perhaps should have flopped but that's either fair catch interference or a late hit and Corley definitely was not blocked into the return man.
  • There were multiple holding penalties missed on both Will McDonald and David Bailey.
  • Jared Verse clearly had a helmet-to-helmet hit on Smith that went uncalled. This came on 3rd-and-23.
  • Jerry Jeudy had a low sliding catch which might have been incomplete if challenged. The Browns rushed to get a snap off and ended up getting sacked on the next play anyway. First instinct here was that the catch would probably have been upheld.
  • Wilson was blatantly interfered with at the goal line but didn't get a call. Two plays later they fumbled inside the 10-yard line, so came away empty-handed.
  • That fumble, by Sadiq, was upheld as a catch rather than an incompletion. He did seem to possess this cleanly and then took a couple of stumbling steps, so that likely does meet the requirement to be treated as a football move.
  • Allen had a run where the pile was still moving forwards but the play was blown dead right before they got to the first down marker, even though it continued moving.
  • On Jarvis Brownlee's sack, the play was blown dead before Deshaun Watson threw it away. He was not down and the in-the-grasp rule no longer exists but you could perhaps say his forward progress was stopped. They often let the quarterback get it out in these situations, though.
  • The Browns had a potential delay of game stopped by a last-ditch timeout.
  • Jamien Sherwood got away with one on a blitz up the middle as his hand made contact with Watson's helmet.
  • Kingsley Enagbare got away with being offside on one play where he timed up the snap count, but on the same play Spencer Fano took him down and should have been called for a hold.

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