The controversy surrounding the end of Thursday night’s game between the New York Jets and New England Patriots appears to be much ado about nothing. As we showed you earlier, the Patriots got some assistance from an official on the final play of the game — a blocked field goal attempt that sealed their 27-25 victory.
Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower was initially lined up over the long snapper, which would have been a 5-yard illegal formation penalty. A referee came over and grabbed Hightower to tell him to move, and New England was able to block the kick. While some — myself included — have wondered if the official bailed the Pats out, the assist he gave Hightower was apparently quite common.
Here’s what NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino tweeted about the play on Friday morning.
In #Jets #Pats game that is a standard officiating mechanic. No different than pointing out LOS to wideout.
— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) October 17, 2014
Player safety rule and Umpire will remind players to stay off the center before snap. Will discuss on NFLAM this morning.
— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) October 17, 2014
Blandino’s story checks out. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe was able to track down more than one play this season where officials told players to move away from the long snapper.
And in Week 6, the referee also tells the #Bengals player to move outside the long snapper pic.twitter.com/m5LMvYzZrA
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) October 17, 2014
Considering the rule was put in place for player safety, it makes sense that officials try to monitor it. The league wants to protect the long snapper, not give the kicking team an advantage if the defense breaks a rule. Reminding players to stay away from the long snapper helps prevent injuries.
In other words, nothing to see here. We can all move along.
