The Jets Got Screwed Out Of A Touchdown

As the Jets were trying to make a comeback against the Patriots, it appeared that Austin Seferian-Jenkins had scored a hard-fought touchdown when he crossed the goal line with the ball to cut New York’s deficit. However, a confusing ruling that claimed Seferian-Jenkins had fumbled the ball out of the end zone took that score away and added even more headaches to the interpretation of the NFL rulebook.

What’s confusing about the fumble ruling is that the Jets never really seem to have lost possession. Seferian-Jenkins, at most, looks like he bobbles the ball and loses some control as he crosses into the endzone and falls out the side, but at least to an untrained, non-official eye, that looks like a touchdown.

That lack of full control, though, was apparently enough for the refs to call a fumble, and the result of the play was a touchback and New England’s ball. The whole sequence calls to mind a similar non-touchdown from a few years ago, apparently scored by RGIII, that was also called off.

Now, in addition to not knowing what a catch is, we can all start arguing about what constitutes a fumble. Fun.