After Further Review: Jets-Titans

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

Titans 4-25 (leading to one Jets first down)
Jets 8-48 (leading to one Titans 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. This came after the Jets initially thought they had a completed pass but then it got overturned, so clearly the confusion over this had an impact.
Mason Taylor false start. Obvious flinch on 3rd-and-1 in the red zone.
Delay of game on 4th-and-1. This was just an effort to get the defense to jump with the intention to punt on 4th-and-6.

Titans Penalties

Joey Slye put the opening kickoff out of bounds to give the Jets the ball at the 40.
Too many men on the field on the play where Breece Hall scored anyway. There were actually 13 on the field when the ball was snapped as the Jets picked up the tempo effectively.
JC Latham false start. Slight flinch before the ball was snapped.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

David Bailey neutral zone infraction. Bit on a hard count and fell forwards so his hands were in the neutral zone. The right tackle then flinched while his hands were still across the line. Although Bailey only toppled forward six inches, his hands had been right up to the line so the call was correct. It was the lone defensive penalty on the Jets all day.
Garrett Wilson false start. This was poor awareness from Geno Smith, who called for the snap so he could spike the ball before Wilson had a chance to hustle back into position. Wilson just about got back into position but wasn't set for a full second so this could have been an illegal shift rather than a false start.
Kenyon Sadiq holding penalty. This had no impact on the play because the block was at the second level and Hall didn't make it back to the line of scrimmage anyway. Sadiq lost leverage and reached across the defender's chest/neck to drag him back.
Olu Fashanu illegal formation to negate a short Wilson catch. Simply lined up too far back.
Josh Myers offensive holding to negate Braelon Allen's touchdown run. Jeffery Simmons penetrated and Myers grabbed a handful of jersey to prevent him from making a stop in the hole. Allen probably doesn't make any yardage without the hold.

Titans Penalties

Defensive pass interference on Alontae Taylor. Taylor was tight on Wilson and broke up a pass to the outside but there was a very clear grab and drag before the ball arrived.
Latham holding on Bailey. A bit of a soft call as multiple Jets broke into the backfield but he did grab Bailey's arm to pull him back.

Notable no-calls etc

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

Wilson had a diving catch overturned after initially being ruled a catch. This was correct, as the ball clearly moved after hitting the turf.
Hall had a couple of plays where he was marked short of the first down but looked like he might have had it.
Mason Taylor's catch/fumble was a borderline call that could have gone either way but was probably reversed to an incomplete pass because the ball was knocked out as he was making a football move rather than after he had made one.
Qwan'tez Stiggers correctly wasn't flagged for fair catch interference on Chimere Dike, because he shoved the blocker into him rather than interfering with the catch himself.
Mitchell's diving catch before halftime was correctly upheld because he had a knee down in the field of play and caught the ball cleanly.
It was fair that the officials ruled the clock should have been running because a defender made contact with Mitchell as he controlled the catch with his knee down but before his upper body hit the sideline - and he was coming back to the ball anyway so his forward progress could have been deemed to have been stopped before he was out of bounds anyway.
That being the case, the Jets had the option to use their final timeout and preserve 32 seconds, or to snap the ball on the ready for play at 22 seconds and keep a timeout. They chose the former, which meant that when they completed a short pass, the clock kept running and then when they had the false start as Smith spiked the ball on 16 seconds, this did require a 10-second runoff.
Following the 10-second runoff, the clock restarts on the ready for play because you can't stop a running clock with an offensive penalty. The Jets seemed to forget this and that's why the clock ran out. You either need to be ready to run a play there, or to spike it immediately and reset.
The officials let them play in the fourth quarter, which could have seen a few pass interference calls on the Jets while they were in the prevent defense at the end of the game.
Finally, should Will McDonald have had a safety? Clearly the ruling was that although Cam Ward was brought down in the end zone, he was possessing the ball outside the goal line as he was initially hit, so he gets forward progress to that point. This part of the equation was definitely correct. However, a closer look at the replay shows that McDonald hit the ball, knocking it loose and Ward only regained possession as he was falling to the ground. The play was therefore not over when his forward progress was stopped and the ball should be marked where he repossessed it, which was in the end zone. A challenge flag there should have led to a safety.

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