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 8-55 (leading to two Jets first downs)
Jets 3-15 (leading to zero 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
- Cedric Ogbuehi false start. Seemed to flinch twice with a man in motion.
- Jamien Sherwood illegal man downfield on a punt. Was 2.5 yards past the line of scrimmage as the ball was punted.
- Delay of game prior to a successful field goal. Luckily Greg Zuerlein still made the do-over.
- Illegal procedure on Justin Hardee for running out of bounds. New England made a point of double-teaming him all day and forcing him wide. He drew a hold on the play to offset this.
Patriots Penalties
- Illegal formation. Tight end Hunter Henry and wide receiver Kendrick Bourne were both on the line of scrimmage on the right side.
- Yodny Cajuste holding on Bryce Huff. A very clear take down as he reached across Huff’s chest after losing outside leverage to prevent the sack.
- James Ferentz holding. Another clear one, as Tanzel Smart shot the gap and Ferentz basically tackled him.
- Jonathan Jones holding on Hardee to offset the penalty noted above. This was further downfield after Hardee beat the double team.
- Illegal block in the back on DeVante Parker. Clear shove in Deuce Carter’s back as he was trying to blow up a run.
Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation
Jets Penalties
- Dan Feeney holding penalty. Tried to make a reach block and reached across his man and took him down. This was declined because the run was stuffed anyway.
Patriots Penalties
- Joe Cardona false start on a punt. This wasn’t so much a flinch as a technical issue with the long snap. He kind of reared back to fire it back there, essentially making it look like a double-pump.
- Raekwon McMillan running into the kicker. This shouldn’t have been a penalty at all because he deflected the punt. As for it being a running into the kicker penalty rather than roughing the kicker, they got this wrong. Even though he barely made contact with the punter, he slid under his plant leg, which is the dangerous play this penalty is supposed to mitigate.
- Matt Judon neutral zone infraction on 3rd-and-4. He actually timed his burst into the backfield perfectly. However, he flinched and stepped forward before he did so and the officials correctly ruled that his foot was in the neutral zone at the snap.
- Jones defensive holding to negate a 3rd-and-10 sack. Clearly grabbed Denzel Mims and held onto him beyond five yards downfield.
Notable no-calls etc
Here were some of the notable missed calls, controversial moments or review situations:
- The Sauce Gardner play where his fumble recovery was changed to an incomplete pass was pretty close. Not sure if this would have held up if fumble was the call on the field. Quincy Williams was blatantly held on the play as he was going to get to the quarterback, but it was third down so the Jets would have declined it anyway.
- Zach Wilson was marked short of the marker on a scramble but the replay booth corrected this.
- Hardee was let off the hook for a potential fair catch interference penalty as he was adjudged to have been engaged with a blocker at the time. No account was taken of the fact that this blocker was holding him.
- Bourne was correctly marked shy of the marker on third down. He fell forward past the marker after his knees already hit the turf.
- Gardner was held on a successful wide receiver screen.
- Mims could have been called for a push-off on the deep catch but the replay showed he put his hands on the defender but didn’t extend fully so the no-call appeared correct.
- Deatrich Wise was in the neutral zone on one play.
- Wilson was smacked in the head on a 3rd-and-10 incompletion from near his own goal line. Not sure how they missed that one.
- Wilson was clearly down on the apparent strip sack.
- Garrett Wilson’s diving catch appeared to move as the ball hit the turf between his arms so the Jets were right to quickly run another play, even though it lost three yards. That would have been overturned on replay probably.
- Kyle Dugger juggled and intercepted a Wilson pass but was clearly out of bounds when he eventually secured it.
- Finally, on the game winning punt return there was NOT a block in the back on CJ Uzomah, although he tried to appeal for one. The impact came from the side. There WAS a block in the back on Hardee but this was right before Marcus Jones crossed the goal line, so even if this wasn’t ignored, the Patriots would just kick a chip shot to win anyway. The more egregious missed call here was the blatant hold on Hardee as the return man took off upfield. A Patriots player clearly had a handful of jersey and held onto that to impede Hardee’s ability to get around him.
Let us know what we missed – or misinterpreted – in the comments…