After Further Review: Jets-Chiefs Officiating

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

Chiefs 7-61 (leading to one Jets first down)

Jets 3-25 (leading to one Chiefs first down)

Plays where the call was obvious, uncontroversial or not visible on broadcast footage

Jets Penalties

  • False start on Connor McGovern. Flinched before snapping the ball.
  • Neutral zone infraction on John Franklin-Myers. Clearly jumped early.

Chiefs Penalties

  • Face mask penalty on Bryon Pringle. Pringle was returning a kick and held up by Vyncint Smith. It was very clear that he got his hand caught up in the face mask and pulled Smith's head aside.
  • Tyrann Matheiu pass interference. He dropped an interception on the play, but did seem to grab Jeff Smith to gain leverage on him.
  • Travis Kelce unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Dunking the ball over the crossbar to celebrate a touchdown was banned back in 2014.
  • Demarcus Robinson offside on a punt rush. This could probably have been better described as a neutral zone infraction.
  • Nick Allegretti ineligible man downfield on a pass. Allegretti just seemed to lose his bearings as the Chiefs messed up their protection so he had nobody to block and drifted a few yards past the line of scrimmage.
  • Byron Pringle false start. The slightest of flinches.
  • False start by Eric Fisher on a field goal attempt. The yardage lost pushed the Chiefs out of range and they had to punt.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

  • Roughing the passer on Folorunso Fatukasi. He did hit Patrick Mahomes in the helmet although it wasn't really forcible contact and, as the announcers said, he was arguably just following through on an attempt to bat the pass down.
  • Illegal contact on Blessuan Austin. This was irrelevant because it was a touchdown anyway and it wasn't visible on broadcast footage. It looks possible the contact happened after the ball was released in which case it should have been pass interference.
  • Illegal use of the hands on Alex Lewis. Unless they called the wrong number, this one seems harsh. If anything, any contact with Lewis' hands and the defensive players helmet was incidental and brief. He certainly didn't push the head back as you'll normally see when this call is made.

Chiefs Penalties

  • Harrison Butker kickoff out of bounds. Clearly this was a penalty but why did the Jets get the ball at midfield? The Chiefs kicked off from their 20 following the Kelce unsportsmanlike penalty. Rule 6 (Free Kicks), Section 2 (Other Free Kick Fouls), Article 3 (Free Kick Out of Bounds) in the 2020 NFL rulebook states: "Penalty: For a kickoff out of bounds: The receiving team may elect to take possession of the ball 25 yards from the spot of the kick or at the out-of-bounds spot." So shouldn't they have received it at the Chiefs' 45?
  • Clyde Edwards-Helaire false start. This seemed harsh because he simply went in motion, which is legal.
  • Dorian O'Daniel holding to negate a long Mecole Hardman punt return. This was on Harvey Langi as he tried to prevent Hardman from going down the sideline and looked more like an illegal block in the back.

Notable no-calls

The Jets had fewer penalties this week, so not much to complain about but they did perhaps get hosed a few times. Mahomes avoided a Quinnen Williams sack by throwing the ball away but it looked like his knee was down and Marcus Maye was clearly held on a blitz.

On a few other contentious plays, the officials seemed to get it right. They correctly reversed the call on a Chiefs touchback where they had initially ruled the ball as having been downed inside the five, correctly ruled La'Mical Perine short of the first down marker where it looked like he had it but his knee was down before he reached across the line and there was a no call on Pierre Desir's pass break-up which seemed correct.

Finally, yes, Austin should have been penalized for a late hit when he aggressively went in for a low and late hit after a teammate wrapped up the runner in the backfield.

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