By now most of you have heard that the New York Jets defeated the New England Patriots in overtime on Sunday thanks to a brand new rule that was called for the first time this season. Patriots rookie Chris Jones was called for unsportsmanlike conduct when he pushed one of his teammates into a Jets offensive lineman, which is a play that the league is trying to eliminate for safety reasons.
Many have wondered why the officials decided to call the penalty for the first time this season during a 56-yard field goal attempt in an overtime game. We even shared with you a video that seems to show the Jets doing something very similar earlier in the game, but no flag was thrown. As it turns out, the Jets may have alerted the officials ahead of time that the Patriots were going to do it.
The image you see above, which Ben Volin of the Boston Globe posted on Twitter Monday, shows the same two New England players pulling the same move against the New Orleans Saints a week earlier. The NFL Network’s Albert Breer said Rex Ryan and company had warned the refs to watch for it.
I'm told Jets coaches did alert officials to several things to watch for w/Pats' special teams, inc potential FG push, before Sunday's game.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) October 21, 2013
The alignment the Patriots ran against the Jets was different, but officials were told to look for a push from New England's FG block team.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) October 21, 2013
It appears to have worked. Bill Belichick later admitted that he was “wrong” and should have had a better understanding of the rule. Ryan deserves credit for trying to give his team an edge any way he can, as it obviously paid off in a huge way. In a way, the Patriots are lucky they were flagged for the play in Week 7. Had the league waited until later in the year to start calling it, the consequences may have been much greater.
H/T Deadspin
