The Jets had a chance—a really good chance—to beat the Patriots on the road last night. Trailing 27-25 with about a minute remaining in the game, New York got the ball from New England on a punt and proceeded to drive down the field courtesy of several Geno Smith passes. And with less than 10 seconds on the clock, they lined up for a 58-yard field goal attempt by Nick Folk, who is fully capable of hitting field goals from that distance.
However, Folk's field goal attempt never had a chance. It got blocked at the line of scrimmage and the Patriots walked off the field victorious. But according to a lot of Jets fans out there, that should not have been the final play. They think that the Jets should have had the opportunity to kick another field goal from closer range because of a penalty that should have been called on the play. And they may have a point.
Prior to Folk kicking the ball, a referee walked up to Patriots linebacker Dont'a Hightower, grabbed his arm, and moved him away from the Jets' long snapper:
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If he hadn't done that, Hightower could have been flagged five yards for illegal formation. But because the ref moved him and essentially stopped him from committing a penalty, no penalty was called. And there were plenty of Jets fans who were not happy about what happened:
We can definitely sympathize with them—and not just because the Jets are 1-6 now as a result of their most recent loss. If this had happened to our favorite team, we'd definitely be crying foul, too. But the NFL has already come out and said that what the referee did is "standard procedure" and that he did it because not moving Hightower would have presented a safety risk to the long snapper.
NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino also took to Twitter this morning to reinforce the idea that what happened on the field was not anything out of the ordinary:
But good luck telling that to Jets fans right now! They lost, and they are not going down without a fight.
[via Uproxx]
