After Further Review: Jets-49ers

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

49ers 4-40 (leading to no Jets first downs)

Jets 3-10 (leading to two 49ers 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

  • Tyron Smith holding penalty on Nick Bosa. This was declined because Aaron Rodgers was sacked anyway by a stunting Leonard Floyd. Clear penalty as Bosa got around the edge and Smith reached across his with his arm and grabbed him.
  • Defensive holding on Braiden McGregor. Obvious call here as the quarterback rolled left but George Kittle looked to leak downfield on the right side to potentially be open downfield on some kind of throwback. McGregor grabbed him and took him to the ground.
  • Garrett Wilson illegal touching. Went out of bounds before coming back to the ball for a short first down catch.

49ers Penalties

  • False start on Colton McKivitz. Clear flinch.
  • Maliek Collins personal foul for unnecessary roughness. Shoved Joe Tippmann into the side judge after the play where Rodgers was intercepted.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

  • Smith illegal formation penalty. This has been a point of emphasis all week, with Smith being flagged for being too far back off the line of scrimmage. It didn't look egregious and must have been by inches at most. This was erroneously announced as on John Simpson initially but that was corrected in the official gamebook.
  • Jermaine Johnson illegal hands to the face against Trent Williams to give the 49ers a first down after a third down stop. He actually had his hand around Williams' throat but that still counts as a penalty, because contact needs to be at or below shoulder level.

49ers Penalties

  • Illegal formation. This was negated after the 49ers gained no yards on 1st-and-10, which paid off because they got the stop. They could have had 1st-and-15 instead of 2nd-and-10. Jake Moody made a 51-yard field goal so perhaps taking the yards could have prevented that if they still got the stop, though. On the play, the tight end was on the line and Deebo Samuel looked like he was slightly off the line but clearly the official felt he was too close. A harsh one.
  • Offensive holding on McKivitz to negate an 18-yard run. This was hard to miss because he reached across and grabbed CJ Mosley to prevent him from making the stop on the edge. This was ruled as a yard downfield before the penalty was assessed so it created a 1st-and-19 situation.
  • Samuel holding to negate a Jordan Mason touchdown run. He had a grip of Sauce Gardner near the goal line and wouldn't let go as Gardner tried to get off the block. By the letter of the law a hold was correct but he didn't need to hold him so that was unnecessary to do so because Mason would have scored anyway. This was 11 yards down the field so actually netted out as a one-yard gain to make it a 1st-and-9.
  • Floyd offside on the play where Rodgers threw the touchdown to Lazard. Clearly jumped on the hard count. What was interesting was that they let the play run rather than blowing it dead. Floyd stopped when he realized he had jumped when actually he probably would have been better off to carry on into the backfield. In similar situations over the past few years, the Jets have had potential "free plays" blown dead.

Notable no-calls etc

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

  • The 49ers wanted a pass interference call on DJ Reed's first quarter pass break-up;
  • The flag was picked up when Kyle Juszczyk was called for offensive pass interference because he was blocking with the ball in the air. However, that was correctly picked up because the pass to Samuel went backwards so it was a run rather than a pass;
  • Will McDonald needs to be more careful about having his hand in the neutral zone at the snap as he got away with it on at least one occasion;
  • Breece Hall was correctly ruled short of the goal line. His forearm was down before the ball, in his other arm, broke the plane;
  • Wilson's overturned catch seemed harsh as he had plenty of room to ensure his second foot came down inbounds and his heel hit first inbounds before his toe came down on the line. By rule, this is incomplete, despite the fact if you come down with your toes inbounds and then your heels land out of bounds that could count - but only if there was ruled to be a "drag or delay";
  • Hall was marked short of the marker at the sideline but this was probably correct. The ball was over the marker when Hall's foot first touched out of bounds but the rule is where the ball is when it crosses the sideline. (This does not apply at the goal line).
  • As a result of the above the Jets ended up with a 4th-and-1 on which Isaac Yiadom clearly impeded Wilson's ability to make a play on the ball with early contact across his arms/hands; and
  • There were a few other potential holding calls and one obviously missed illegal motion that the announcers point out.

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