After Further Review: Jets-Packers 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

Packers 7-42 (leading to one Jets first down)

Jets 7-79 (leading to three Packers 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

  • Ashtyn Davis holding on a return. Kept a grip of his man too long as he tried to fight off his block.
  • Illegal formation on Alijah Vera-Tucker. Was lined up way off the line. The officials usually give some leniency here but he was almost a yard further back than the other tackle.
  • Unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to extend a Packers drive when they were about to punt. Nothing was obvious from the TV broadcast but apparently an assistant coach got in the way of an official or something.

Packers Penalties

  • Elgton Jenkins false start. Jumped early.
  • Delay of game on 2nd-and-17.
  • TJ Slaton unnecessary roughness penalty as he shoved Nate Herbig and knocked his helmet off at the end of a play.
  • Rashan Gary offside. Bit on the hard count and had stepped across into the neutral zone as the ball was snapped.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

  • Duane Brown chop block. This seemed harsh as Brown just went to make a conventional double team block, but had lost his balance so came in low.
  • Jordan Whitehead helmet-to-helmet hit and Sauce Gardner pass interference on the same 3rd-and-2 incompletion. Gardner did have a handful of jersey and Whitehead did come in late with the hit, after the ball had not been caught. The prolonged discussion with the officials was over which penalty to accept. Even though it was a long pass, the Packers ultimately took the 15 yards. This is because the Gardner grab only came 11 yards down the field.
  • 3rd down illegal contact penalty on CJ Mosley away from the ball. There was contact after five yards, although Marcedes Lewis did seem to initiate this by just running down the seam right into Mosley. This perhaps doesn't get called if Mosley doesn't extend his arm late in the play.
  • Roughing the passer on Nathan Shepherd. This was irrelevant anyway because it was a touchdown but although Shepherd tried to pull up as he made the hit, he also took one step after the ball was gone and probably could have avoided hitting him altogether, so it's not a surprise this flag was thrown.

Packers Penalties

  • Jenkins holding on Quincy Williams at the second level to negate a big run. Jenkins had Williams blocked at the second level but Williams tried to spin away from him and that's when he grabbed him to prevent him from getting to the runner.
  • Eric Wilson illegal block in the back on a punt return. Bumped Ashtyn Davis right at the end of the play so it had no effect on the return. Wilson might argue it was from the side rather than in the back.
  • Jenkins again with a hold. Classic case of a tackle having the edge rusher (in this case Jacob Martin) controlled, but then when the quarterback vacates the pocket and the edge rusher goes to pursue, the tackle keeps hold of the block with their inside hand.

Notable no-calls etc

Here were some of the notable missed calls, controversial moments or review situations:

  • The officials picked up a flag after initially throwing one for holding on a Jets punt rush. The replay showed that Micheal Clemons drove his man back and did appear to be dragged down to the ground. Of course, he would later get his block.
  • They also picked up a flag for illegal man downfield. One Packers lineman did run parallel to the line before turning upfield but even so he was between a yard and two yards past the line of scrimmage when the ball was thrown so this could have been called.
  • Aaron Jones was correctly ruled out of bounds on a deep sideline catch. His first foot was on the line and his second landed out so this wouldn't even have been a catch in college.
  • The Jets should have challenged the long completion to Allen Lazard because one angle clearly shows the ball moving as he falls to the ground with it. The broadcast didn't show this replay in time, though.
  • Zach Wilson made a really smart play to avoid an intentional grounding call in the end zone. He made sure he (a) got outside the pocket and (b) safely threw the ball past the line of scrimmage.
  • Jarran Reed clearly had a late hit on Breece Hall out of bounds that the officials let slide. If this was a quarterback, it would obviously have been called.
  • Wilson seemed to step out of bounds before his risky throw back across his body was almost intercepted in the end zone. Had that been intercepted (or if it went for a touchdown), it might not have counted. The fact the officials missed this call meant that it was just a 32-yard field goal, not a 40-yarder.
  • Quinnen Williams had a low hit on Aaron Rodgers, but it was legal because Rodgers was outside the pocket.
  • John Franklin-Myers could easily have been flagged for throwing Rodgers down when he sacked him. Grady Jarrett was penalized on a similar play against Tom Brady in a recent game, although pretty much everyone agreed that this was a bad call.
  • Brandin Echols got away with a handful of jersey on the deep incompletion to the end zone and the Packers wanted defensive pass interference on Gardner on one play.
  • The Jets may have got a generous spot on the play where Tyler Conklin took the snap and sneaked for the first down.
  • Kenny Clark blew up a run on a play where he appeared to beat the snap count and could have been flagged for being offside.
  • There was arguably a face mask penalty that should have been called when Wilson was stuffed on his own quarterback sneak.
  • Finally, although actually it was early in the game, the Gardner interception was correctly overturned because the nose of the ball did hit the turf based on one angle. It's a shame that angle wasn't blocked by another player's foot or something, though, because this angle produced an optical illusion which made it look like Tonyan definitely got his hand under the ball:

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