After Further Review: Jets-Miami 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

Dolphins 5-45 (leading to two Jets first downs)
Jets 3-32 (leading to one Dolphins 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

  • Unnecessary roughness on Jason Pinnock as he lit up the punt returner after a fair catch signal. Pinnock obviously didn't see the signal.
  • Sheldon Rankins offside. Clearly jumped before the snap on the play where Tua Tagovailoa threw a touchdown to Christian Wilkins.
  • Conor McDermott holding on the final drive. Had his hands to the outside and then when Zach Wilson was flushed from the pocket, that led to the automatic call.

Dolphins Penalties

  • Andrew Van Ginkel roughing the passer. This was two steps after the ball was thrown and one of the hardest hits Wilson has taken all year. This wasn't just late, but also kinda dirty.
  • Jesse Davis false start. A very slight flinch here, that was well spotted by the officials. This was less of a flinch than the one that caused the Jets to jump offside on fourth and short a few weeks ago.
  • Hunter Long holding on John Franklin-Myers. Grabbed him as he lost leverage when his running back bounced outside.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

  • Laurent Duvernay-Tardif holding. This was a marginal call as Duvernay-Tardif took his man down in pass protection. The announcers felt this was harsh but you could argue that Duvernay-Tardif's hand grabbed outside the shoulder to drag his man down.
  • Pass interference on Bryce Hall in the end zone. An argument could be made here that this was uncatchable because the throw went way over DeVante Parker's head. However, the replay showed that Hall grabbed Parker's jersey to prevent him from jumping for the ball. Had he been able to do so, it probably would have been within his reach.

Dolphins Penalties

  • 12 men on defense as the Jets ran a quarterback sneak on fourth down. Brian Flores didn't like this call because he had players running off the field prior to the snap. An offense only has to give the defense time to substitute when they themselves make personnel changes.
  • Holding on both Long and Robert Hunt on the same play, negating a big run. Long grabbed Kyle Phillips to prevent him from getting downhill at the point of attack and Hunt needlessly grabbed Nathan Shepherd by the shoulder pad as he was driven back off the line by a double team. These weren't necessarily what sprung the run.

Notable no-calls

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

  • On Braxton Berrios' touchdown run, it was actually designed so that Jamison Crowder could leak to the back of the end zone for an option pass. The defense read this but then Crowder was shoved down so this should have drawn an illegal contact flag even though the pass was never thrown.
  • Flores was also annoyed that the officials didn't give him a timeout before Wilson's quarterback sneak for a touchdown. That play also had a lengthy review although it looked obvious there was nothing significant to overturn the on-field call.
  • Bryce Huff appeared to be held when the quarterback escaped the pocket and almost ran to the first down marker.
  • On the big screen pass where Elijah Riley got injured, Javelin Guidry was blocked in the back. He was the one who missed the key tackle, after he got up from that block.
  • On Wilson's spectacular scramble, Connor McGovern sealed off a chasing defender from tackling Wilson from behind. He was moving back towards his own goal line when he did so. Does this not mean it was an illegal blindside block? No, because there was no forcible contact with the head, forearm or shoulder.
  • It was close but it looked like Jacoby Brissett probably did get the first down on his fourth down quarterback sneak.
  • Finally, on the 3rd-and-12 sack on Wilson in the fourth quarter, the officials missed the fact that the defensive back grabbed Denzel Mims' jersey coming across the middle.

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