The New England Patriots game against the New York Jets on Sunday included what may be one of the most confusing and controversial plays of the 2017 season. Jets tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins scored a touchdown that ended up getting reviewed and was eventually called a touchback.
The referees further explained the play, and said that Seferian-Jenkins fumbled as he was falling into the end zone, and that he didn't regain possession while in bounds. Therefore it was a fumble out of bounds into the end zone, which resulted in a touchback that gave the Patriots the ball on the 20-yard line.
"It came out of his control as he was almost to the ground," Tony Corrente told the pool reporter after Sunday's game. "Now, he re-grasps the ball - and by rule, now he has to complete the process of a recovery, which means he has to survive the ground again. So in recovering it, he recovered, hit the knee, started to roll, and the ball came out a second time. So the ball started to move in his hands this way. He's now out of bounds in the end zone, which now created a touchback. So he didn't survive the recovery and didn't survive the ground during the recovery, is what happened here."
He added: "We went through two or three primary looks, and then this other shot came up. When the other shot came up, it was just 'boom, boom, boom.' It was a pretty quick determination. It was pretty obvious."
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The referees further explained the play, and said that Seferian-Jenkins fumbled as he was falling into the end zone, and that he didn't regain possession while in bounds. Therefore it was a fumble out of bounds into the end zone, which resulted in a touchback that gave the Patriots the ball on the 20-yard line.
"It came out of his control as he was almost to the ground," Tony Corrente told the pool reporter after Sunday's game. "Now, he re-grasps the ball - and by rule, now he has to complete the process of a recovery, which means he has to survive the ground again. So in recovering it, he recovered, hit the knee, started to roll, and the ball came out a second time. So the ball started to move in his hands this way. He's now out of bounds in the end zone, which now created a touchback. So he didn't survive the recovery and didn't survive the ground during the recovery, is what happened here."
He added: "We went through two or three primary looks, and then this other shot came up. When the other shot came up, it was just 'boom, boom, boom.' It was a pretty quick determination. It was pretty obvious."
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Clay Wendler @ClayWendler
#Jets just got screwed on this Austin Seferian-Jenkins call...ruled a touchback and the Pats ball.
<time class="dt-updated" datetime="2017-10-15T19:44:42+0000" pubdate="" title="Time posted: October 15, 2017 19:44:42 (UTC)">3:44 PM - Oct 15, 2017</time>
f the play remained a touchdown, the score would've been 24-21 with the Patriots leading in the fourth quarter. The Patriots ended up winning the game with a score of 24-17.
"I feel like I scored," Seferian-Jenkins told reporters after the game. "But at the end of the day, the refs called what the refs called. I'm going to go with what the ref said, and I have to have better ball security."
*Henry McKenna contributed to this report.
Clay Wendler @ClayWendler #Jets just got screwed on this Austin Seferian-Jenkins call...ruled a touchback and the Pats ball.
<time class="dt-updated" datetime="2017-10-15T19:44:42+0000" pubdate="" title="Time posted: October 15, 2017 19:44:42 (UTC)">3:44 PM - Oct 15, 2017</time>
f the play remained a touchdown, the score would've been 24-21 with the Patriots leading in the fourth quarter. The Patriots ended up winning the game with a score of 24-17.
"I feel like I scored," Seferian-Jenkins told reporters after the game. "But at the end of the day, the refs called what the refs called. I'm going to go with what the ref said, and I have to have better ball security."
*Henry McKenna contributed to this report.
