After Further Review: Jets-Lions

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

Lions 4-41 (leading to one Jets first down)

Jets 4-30 (leading to one Lions first down)

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

  • Delay of game, caused by Kenyon Sadiq being slow to get into position as he had to check first with Geno Smith. The snap actually wasn't that late compared with some of the ones the Jets got away with last week. This came with six seconds left in the first quarter and was the first flag on either team.
  • Dylan Parham holding penalty to negate an 11-yard pass to Braelon Allen. DJ Wonnum got upfield with a power move and Parham had him wrapped up as he leveraged past him.
  • Olu Fashanu holding on a play where Smith was sacked anyway. Aidan Hutchinson got outside leverage and Fashanu reached across his chest for the hold, as he let go a beat too late. Smith stepped up and Hutchinson span off the block to get in on the tackle for a half-sack anyway.

Lions Penalties

  • Holding on Brock Wright that was declined anyway because the run was blown up for a loss. In a similar situation and position last week the Jets accepted the holding penalty and the Packers went on to get a first down and ultimately scored their first touchdown, so maybe Aaron Glenn learned from that. Wright clearly grabbed Joseph Ossai after he penetrated into the backfield.
  • Pass interference on Rock Ya-Sin that was declined anyway because Garrett Wilson made a diving catch. Ya-Sin had a slight grab of Wilson and he made his break across his face.
  • False start on rookie tackle Blake Miller. Early flinch.
  • Penei Sewell offensive holding to negate an 18-yard Jahmyr Gibbs run. Reached around Jamien Sherwood's shoulder at the second level and tackled him to the ground to prevent the tackle.
  • Illegal formation on the 4th-and-1 play that was stuffed anyway. Detroit had three players on the left side of the formation and none of them were on the line of scrimmage.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

  • Offensive pass interference on Malik McClain. McClain collided with a Lions linebacker, preventing him from getting out to the flat to cover Kenyon Sadiq, but the pass was incomplete anyway. It looked like an inadvertent collision but if you watch carefully you can see McClain changes direction slightly to initiate the contact, so he didn't quite have his angles right in terms of making it look like his route just so happened to get in the way of a defender.
  • Illegal hands to the face on Azareye'h Thomas after a 2nd-and-10 incompletion. This was unfortunate for Thomas who put his hands up for the jam in press coverage and Isaac TeSlaa ducked his head to initiate contact with one of his hands. There was no grab or forceful contact to the head and if it's that easy to draw a penalty you wonder why receivers don't do this all the time.

Lions Penalties

  • Holding on Ty Nowaske on the opening kickoff of the second half. Maybe a slight grab on Andrew Beck, but this one looked a bit soft.
  • DJ Reed pass interference on Wilson near the pylon. Reed acted like he thought this was clean coverage, but he very clearly had a hold of Wilson's inside arm before the ball arrived.
  • Reed pass interference on Wilson's fourth quarter touchdown catch. Another sneaky attempt at getting away with it by Reed, who contested the pass with his left hand but had a handful of Wilson's jersey around the chest with his right.

Notable no-calls etc

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

  • Smith had an easy first down on the first possession but opted to slide short of the marker. While he crossed the marker before being touched, the officials were correct to mark it short at the point where the ball was when he gave himself up.
  • Amon-Ra had an early diving catch which was clearly incomplete as the ball rolled along the turf as he tried to secure it. The officials soon corrected this.
  • There was some confusion over Wilson's diving catch in the first half, not that it mattered because there was pass interference anyway. This was eventually ruled a catch because the ball was knocked away from Wilson after he landed out of bounds with control.
  • Sadiq's touchdown catch wasn't completely clean but it was definitely a catch because the ball never hit the turf as Sadiq landed on his back and then secured control.
  • TeSlaa could have had a touchdown on a play that was very similar to one in the Chiefs/Colts game last week. He went to ground without being touched and then sprang to his feet and dived into the end zone. Brandon Stephens just about made contact with him while his knee was still in contact with the turf but it was very close.
  • Wilson had another diving catch in the second half, at full extension and on his fingertips. This was clean and never hit the turf anyway.
  • Isaiah Williams had a catch that was initially incomplete but corrected by replay assist. The initial view looked like his left foot came down out of bounds but the replay showed he already had control with his left foot still on the ground before that last step. It then just came down to whether his right foot came down inbounds and it did, just.
  • On Jahmyr Gibbs' game-winning touchdown, he skipped into the end zone and hopped across the goal line, which Kingsley Enagbare took exception to, shoving him to the ground while he was in mid-air. This started a scuffle for which no flags were thrown. Gibbs kinda deserved that because it was bordering on taunting, and Enagbare is well within his rights to hit a runner as he's crossing the goal line.
  • On Wilson's touchdown, regardless of the penalty, there was a question over (a) was it a catch and (b) was it a touchdown? Wilson landed on his backside, inbounds, and secured control before his back came down out of bounds. Crucially, he was still inbounds and the ball was across the plane at the moment of control.
  • On the play before his game-icing strip sack, Chuck Clark knocked Wilson out of the game with a helmet to helmet hit. If this had been a penalty for a hit on a defenseless receiver, the Jets would have had 1st-and-10 from the 11 with still one timeout and 51 seconds remaining (but no Wilson).

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