Did the New England Patriots receive some major help from an official on the final play of their win over the New York Jets on Thursday night? It certainly looks like a referee helped the Pats avoid a penalty just before they blocked Nick Folk’s 58-yard-field goal attempt to seal a 27-25 victory.
When New England lined up in its kick block formation, linebacker Dont’a Hightower approached the line of scrimmage and was standing over Jets long snapper Tanner Purdum. Standing over the long snapper on a field goal attempt is illegal and results in a 5-yard illegal formation penalty. So why wasn’t it called?
An official stepped in and grabbed Hightower by the arm, clearly telling him to move over. As Dom Cosentino of NJ.com noted, this wasn’t a case of a player asking an official if he was on the line of scrimmage. The ref stepped in and physically moved Hightower so he wouldn’t be flagged.
Just like last season, we have a controversy involving a game-ending field goal attempt between the Jets and Patriots. If you remember, the Patriots were flagged for breaking a new rule last year when then-rookie Chris Jones — the same player who blocked Folk’s 58-yard attempt on Thursday — was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for stacking behind a teammate and pushing him into a Jets lineman. It was later revealed that the Jets did the exact same thing on a field goal attempt earlier in the game and the NFL admitted it should have been called.
Even if the official didn’t help Hightower and New England was assessed a 5-yard penalty, there’s no guarantee Folk would have made the 53-yard kick. But it would have given New York a second chance, and it’s certainly something Jets fans aren’t going to be happy about.
UPDATE: Moving players off the long snapper is apparently common practice in the NFL. Here are some examples of other officials doing the same thing.
Video via Ben Volin
