After Further Review: Jets-Texans

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

Texans 7-60 (leading to two Jets first downs)

Jets 9-83 (leading to five Texans 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

  • Quinnen Williams offside. Mistimed the snap count and definitely in the neutral zone at the snap.
  • Deliberate delay of game before a punt.
  • Kenny Yeboah face mask while making a tackle on a kickoff. Appeared to be a clear grab.
  • Isaiah Oliver pass interference. Very clearly mistimed his hit on Tank Dell before the ball arrived.

Texans Penalties

  • Laremy Tunsil false start. Fired off the line half a beat early.
  • Cade Stover holding to negate a 17-yard run. Good job by Oliver to try and leverage off the block so it was clear Stover had a grab on his outside shoulder.
  • Foley Fatukasi face mask on Breece Hall. Very clear, although the on-field officials missed it and were tipped off by replay assistance.
  • Robert Woods offensive holding to negate a 10-yard run. Clearly grabbed onto Jalen Mills in the hole to stop him from making the tackle.

Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation

Jets Penalties

  • Irv Charles roughing the kicker. If he just could have got a finger on this (as he did last week) then any contact with the punter would have been irrelevant. It's a split second decision whether to commit to trying to deflect the ball or pull up to ensure no penalty and on 4th-and-21 you'd probably prefer the latter. It's not the first time he's missed the ball in that situation though. As for the decision to call it roughing or running into the kicker, it could possibly have been called as the latter. While contact with the plant leg is usually roughing, even if the leg is off the ground, Charles tried to avoid contact and it was a glancing blow to the hip rather than direct into that leg in such a way that might cause injury. With that said, Tommy Townsend was being checked out for an injury after the play.
  • Sauce Gardner defensive holding. While Gardner fell over on the play and rested his hand on the receiver's back and hip, he never grabbed or pulled him back to impede his progress so this one was soft.
  • Holding on Olu Fashanu to negate Aaron Rodgers' first down scramble. He had a handful of jersey around the neck area and dragged the defensive tackle down. Fashanu did keep his hands inside, which sometimes means you can get away with this kind of play, but he has no argument really.
  • Personal foul on Eric Watts for contact on the long snapper to negate a successful field goal and give the Texans a 1st-and-goal. He did line up outside the long snapper, so he was aligned illegally, but the rule he broke is that you cannot make any contact with the long snapper until one second after the ball is snapper or if he is in a vulnerable position. Kneeing him in the face as soon as the ball was snapped broke both these laws.
  • Defensive holding on Gardner again. There was absolutely no grab here but at one point he did have contact with both hands either side of the receiver. While this didn't necessarily impede his route, a more heady veteran likely would have been able to lean into the contact to either get away from him or initiate a penalty. Another soft one, but honestly, in an end of game red zone situation in a two-possession game if you take a hold but 10 seconds come off the clock, that's basically a win anyway.

Texans Penalties

  • Holding on Jamal Hill on the opening kickoff. Looked a bit soft but good aggression from Marcelino McCrary-Ball to drive him backwards.
  • Derek Stingley illegal contact on fourth down. Had his hands all over Mike Williams from the snap, but crucially still had his hands on him as they were more than five yards past the line of scrimmage.
  • Delay of game on 3rd-and-10 on the final drive.

Notable no-calls etc

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

  • Kendall Sheffield twice got away with possible holding penalties while playing the vice role on a punt;
  • Robert Woods' sideline catch wasn't challenged and that was good because it would have been upheld. Pellets kicked up as he dragged his second foot;
  • The Malachi Corley touchback was obviously the correct call;
  • The Tyler Conklin fumble that was originally returned for an apparent touchdown was also correctly ruled incomplete on review. It slipped from his grasp as he was securing it and before he made a football move;
  • Javon Kinlaw got away with an offside call as he guessed the snap count;
  • Wilson potentially could have drawn a late hit over by the sideline;
  • Hall's run where he originally wasn't down and then picked up some more yardage was correctly re-spotted due to his elbow being down;
  • Neville Hewitt got away with a late hit on Conklin;
  • Wilson's incredible touchdown catch was originally ruled incomplete but the decision to overturn it was definitely correct. He secured the ball before he landed, and he landed with a shin clearly inbounds;
  • When CJ Stroud ran a route and tried to catch an option pass, he wanted a pass interference call on DJ Reed. Okay, but no;
  • Dalton Schultz's sideline catch was correctly ruled out of bounds as his second foot came down in the white; and
  • Will McDonald was held multiple times by Tytus Howard down the stretch, including on two plays where he was essentially tackled to the ground.

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