After Further Review: Jets-Eagles 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

Eagles 5-46 (leading to three Jets first downs)
Jets 9-68 (leading to two Eagles 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

  • Quinton Jefferson neutral zone infraction. Jumped early.
  • Deuce Carter illegal contact. Kept his hands on his man after they were both beyond five yards down the field.
  • Ace Carter false start. Flinched before the snap on 3rd-and-8.
  • Wes Schweitzer holding. This was a very clear hold as Schweitzer was bull rushed to the ground and dragged his man down with him.
  • Deliberate delay of game on a punt.
  • False start on Connor McGovern. This wasn't clear from the broadcast but the announcers suggested he snapped the ball too quickly or hesitated or something.

Eagles Penalties

  • 12 men on the field. Zach Cunningham failed to run off in time.
  • Illegal man downfield on Sua Opeta. The Eagles ran an RPO with Opeta pulling to the right but Hurts opted to roll out. Opeta's man avoided with him and he overshot the mark, going 2-3 yards downfield.
  • Illegal shift. The ball was snapped before everyone was set, although it wasn't shown clearly on the broadcast.
  • Kick catch interference on Kelee Ringo. Ringo collided with Randall Cobb for an obvious 15-yard penalty.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

  • Quinnen Williams roughing the passer. This wasn't all that late and didn't meet any of the other criteria for a roughing the passer penalty, but shoving Jalen Hurts down the way he did could and should easily have been avoided so you can't really gripe about this call.
  • Running into the kicker on Jamien Sherwood. This was close to being a roughing call because he was very close to a block but missed the ball and then made contact with the punter as he landed. However, to draw a roughing call these days, it seems like you need to really go through the punter and knock him to the ground. A few years ago, this would have been roughing but running into the kicker was consistent with how it is called these days.
  • Allen Lazard blindside block to negate a big catch. This was controversial but under the current rules, this is a clear penalty these days. Since Lazard was facing towards his own endzone, he must lead with the hands, and he led with the shoulder. Moreover, even if you felt he wasn't facing his own end zone, this is a penalty even if he is facing parallel to the line of scrimmage under the current rules (see below). A penalty of this type was basically the only way you can end up with a negative result after inducing a free play as the Jets did on that one. Even a routine hold would just have been offset - and a hold without any offsides would be assessed from the point of the foul instead of 15 from the previous spot.

Rule 12-2-7: It is a foul if a player initiates a block when his path is toward or parallel to his own end line and makes forcible contact to his opponent with his helmet, forearm, or shoulder.

Eagles Penalties

  • Josh Jobe defensive holding. This was most notable for giving the Jets a rare opening drive first down. The penalty itself saw Jobe reach across and impede Xavier Gipson at the top of his route stem but was maybe a little soft.
  • Jobe pass interference. This one was clearer as he grabbed Garrett Wilson around the waist to stop him breaking outside.
  • Brandon Graham jumped offside. The Jets finally got a free play on the hard count only for the Lazard penalty to not only offset but wipe out the penalty completely. Wilson ended up with 90 receiving yards but lost 25 because this play was negated.

Notable no-calls etc

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

  • The opening touchdown obviously felt harsh on Jets fans to see the on-field call being a stop only to come back from commercial and it's been changed to a touchdown. Maybe Hurts did break the plane with the ball as he extended with his torso apparently just a few inches above the turf. However, this wasn't absolutely clear from all the angles they showed and it would seem very generous indeed to decide this was indisputable enough to change the on-field decision. Even if the ball broke the plane before Hurts' torso hit the ground, which seemed possible but not certain, the only angle which could lead you to this conclusion - and in fact none of the other angles - did not allow you too see whether any part of his lower body had already touched the turf. Since that aspect was in dispute the on-field decision should stand, because thinking it probably was a touchdown isn't enough...unless it's against the Jets, apparently.
  • Greg Zuerlein's field goal did just sneak inside the upright and, yes, this could have been overturned, without a challenge because it's a scoring play, if replays showed it went wide. Remember though, that if the ball goes directly over the upright, that counts as good. So, if this ball was three inches inside the upright, it was probably good by about 12-15 inches.
  • James Bradberry definitely grabbed Wilson's jersey in the small of his back and gave a little tug to affect his jump for the ball near the pylon, but this was one of those sneaky veteran plays you wouldn't really expect the officials to see.
  • Lazard also got away with an illegal block in the back on one play. In fact, maybe the Eagles complained about that and this is why they didn't miss the other one.
  • AJ Brown's catch was upheld and, as the announcers said, might also have been a call stands if the on-field call was incomplete but not necessarily. The ball did move as he was rolling after having landed but he basically kept his hand on the ball the whole time so he did enough to constitute no loss of control.
  • Hurts seemed to false start before receiving the snap on his big first down completion before the two minute warning.

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