New York Jets: 3 Takeaways vs. Patriots in Week 6

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EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – OCTOBER 15: Tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins #88 of the New York Jets is seen after what was originally called a touchdown against strong safety Duron Harmon #30 and cornerback Malcolm Butler #21 of the New England Patriots during the fourth quarter of their game at MetLife Stadium on October 15, 2017 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Replay Official reviewed the runner broke the plane ruling, and the play was reversed and called a fumble. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

1. Jets can’t beat the Patriots and the officials

The Jets are good enough to overcome adversity (even self-inflicted adversity). However, they can’t overcome two opponents. This week they expected to face the New England Patriots, but they weren’t expecting to have to beat them and the officials.

This loss can be attributed to a lot of things. The terrible reversal of the Austin Seferian-Jenkins touchdown, and a missed call at the end of the first half are two of them. I will get to the more heavily discussed one of those, but many people missed the first call that could’ve resulted in a Patriots field goal instead of a touchdown.

On second-and-goal at the 2-yard line, the Patriots scored a touchdown on a pass from Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski. On the previous play, Gronkowski got away with offensive pass interference, which should’ve resulted in first and goal at the Patriots 12. Instead, the Patriots scored a touchdown. It doesn’t matter that offensive pass interference is rarely called. It should’ve been whistled there, and no-call changed the complexion of the game moving forward.

Despite of a bad call that happened later, the game could’ve been 20-17 at the point the Jets got the ball back in the fourth quarter, and a field goal to force overtime would’ve changed the Jets play calling, and been more feasible. The later egregious call is the one everyone is talking about.

The Seferian-Jenkins apparent touchdown was overturned to a touchback. The ruling that came down from the review crew in New York was that he lost control of the ball twice, and came down out-of-bounds with possession the second time, which results in a touchback.

According to ESPN’s Rich CImini, here’s referee Tony Corrente’s explanation:

"The final shot that we saw was from the end zone that showed the New York Jets’ runner, we’ll call him a runner at that point, with the football starting to go toward the ground. He lost the ball. It came out of his control as he was almost to the ground. Now he re-grasps the ball and by rule, now he has to complete the process of a recovery, which means he has to survive the ground again. So in recovering it, he recovered, hit the knee, started to roll and the ball came out a second time. So the ball started to move in his hands this way…he’s now out of bounds in the end zone, which now created a touchback. So he didn’t survive the recovery and didn’t survive the ground during the recovery is what happened here."

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However, from the TV angles on CBS, there’s no conclusive evidence of the second time he lost control of the ball. It should’ve been a touchdown, and a three-point deficit for the Jets at that point. The Jets can’t expect to overcome two game-changing bad calls to win the game.

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