New England Patriots: 5 observations from Week 6 win over Jets

Fumble or no fumble?

The first thing you’ll see in a recap of this game is the call that was made on an Austin Seferian Jenkins reception. It was probably the craziest reversal I’ve ever seen.

In the 4th quarter Josh McCown hit Austin Seferian Jenkins who ran to the pylon and crossed the plane. It was called a touchdown on the field and I had no objection; it looked totally legit. Malcolm Butler begged to differ. He was going crazy at the ref to the point where I thought he was going to shove him to the ground.

Here is the play in question:

The ruling on the field was a touchdown, but after review, it was called back. It was ruled that the ball was fumbled before crossing the goal line and then the ball landed out of bounds. It resulted in a touchback in favor of the New England Patriots. Wild right?

One thing is clear. The ball definitely came out of Seferian-Jenkins’ hands for a split second. Where I disagree with the ruling, however, is that the ball was fumbled “out of the endzone”. To me, it looked like Seferian-Jenkins recovered the ball right after he lost it, and then fell across the plane and into the endzone. If the ball was indeed out of his possession when he went out of bounds, I don’t think there was conclusive evidence to overturn the call on the field.

I mean, I’ll take it. But it just doesn’t feel right. It would be like a homeless person giving you money… you don’t want to take it but you could definitely use it. I don’t think there’s a right call on this play, and though I disagree with the call, I’m not arguing.