After Further Review: Jets-Pats

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

Patriots 2-20 (leading to no Jets first downs)

Jets 7-62 (leading to three Patriots 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

  • Illegal contact on both Jarvis Brownlee Jr. and Tony Adams, both of which happened off-screen and weren't replayed. Prior to this, the Jets had just one penalty midway through the second quarter but this was yet another example of officials suddenly starting to call a lot on them as if they'd been told there had a quota to meet.
  • Dean Clark holding on a punt. Dragged the gunner down near the line of scrimmage. This cost the Jets about 25 yards with the lost return yardage.
  • 12 men on defense. This was a bad penalty coming out of a timeout. Qwan'tez Stiggers was the extra man. The play was blown dead rather than giving New England a free play as he tried to run off.
  • Joe Tippmann unnecessary roughness. Knocked Jaylinn Hawkins on his ass at the end of a play. Tippmann would probably protest that he was in the process of making that block as the play was blown dead but realistically he would have had time to hear the whistle and pull up.
  • Brownlee defensive holding. He looked distraught at this call but can have no arguments because he had a handful of Mack Hollins' jersey before the ball was thrown.

Patriots Penalties

  • Holding on Morgan Moses. Aggressively dragged Jermaine Johnson into a faceplant by the jersey around the shoulder area.
  • Holding on Will Campbell. Will McDonald won a leverage advantage with a textbook rip move that Campbell countered with an arm across McDonald's neck to prevent him from turning the corner.
  • Holding on Jack Westover. Bear-hugged and turned Quincy Williams on a run play with his hands clearly outside him.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

  • Brownlee unnecessary roughness. Aggressively threw Stefon Diggs to the ground at the end of a third down play where he had wrapped Diggs up near the marker. The play was ruled to be over and although Brownlee was clearly trying to finish the play to ensure he couldn't get back to the marker, it did cross over into unnecessary and late.
  • Brandon Stephens illegal contact to negate Williams' sack. This was a bad call, as Stephens did indeed maintain contact with the receiver beyond five yards but it was literally just a hand resting on him with no grab and no impeding of the receiver's progress, which is typically viewed as acceptable. What you could say is that Stephens didn't have to keep his hands on the receiver.
  • Justin Fields intentional grounding. This was incorrect, as confirmed by the broadcast crew. Fields got outside the pocket so the fact there was no receiver in the area is a moot point as long as the ball crosses the line of scrimmage.

Patriots Penalties

  • None.

Notable no-calls etc

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

  • New England wanted fair catch interference on one punt but Qwan'tez Stiggers just shoved the vice into the return man, which is not illegal.
  • Fields and Breece Hall had a few plays between them where they just about got to the first down marker and were awarded a first down but in each case the spot looked reasonable.
  • Brownlee did not make contact with Pop Douglas on the play where he got back up and ran for extra yards.
  • McDonald was blatantly held on an interior rush against Jared Wilson who reached across his chest as he tried to prevent him getting upfield.
  • A Diggs catch was overturned as he caught the ball clean and stretched for the first down marker in the same move. Incomplete was the correct call here as the ball came loose when it hit the turf so he didn't survive the ground. He needed to have taken a step before diving forwards with the ball otherwise he must maintain control if the ball hits the turf. You may recall the Bill Belichick-era Patriots benefiting from a similar rule (since changed) when a Steelers tight end reached for the goal line and the ball came loose in the end zone, which was ruled incomplete and negated a game-winning touchdown.
  • Hollins just about kept his right foot inbounds before a catch over by the sideline.
  • Diggs just about stayed inbounds before Drake Maye's pass to him over by the sideline.
  • Maye just about got rid of a pass that was thrown deliberately out of bounds to prevent a negative play as Johnson chased him to the sideline.
  • Maye was not called for intentional grounding on a throw that was nowhere near any receiver because the receiver, Kyle Williams ran the wrong route and otherwise would have been near it.

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