Jets tipped officials on push

[F.Chowds]

The New York Jets were aware of the New England Patriots' previous use of the illegal pushing technique on field goals, and they made sure Sunday's game officials knew it, too.

 

In fact, the Jets' sideline alerted the officiating crew during the game to watch out for it, a person familiar with the situation told ESPN.com Monday.

Sure enough, the Patriots were busted in overtime, and it cost them the game.

 

Publicly, the Jets said little about the matter. Coach Rex Ryan probably didn't want to come off as a tattletale, but he left little doubt Monday that he knew about the Patriots' practice, and he didn't deny blowing the whistle on them.

 

While he wouldn't answer directly about whether he was aware the Patriots had used it once the previous week against the New Orleans Saints, Ryan said, "The coaches watch every single play of every single game, so we're aware of the opponents' tendencies and everything else."

In other words, he knew.

 

Ryan declined to say whether that information was shared with his players, saying he'd "leave that in-house," and he also avoided the question of whether he tipped off officials before Sunday's game.

 

"Again, you know what? My comments with the officials, I'll just leave that way," he said.

 

The Jets have a history of contacting the league with concerns before facing the Patriots. Before last season's game in Foxborough, they wanted the game officials to be aware of possible illegal substituting by the Patriots while using their hurry-up offense.

 

The Jets were well-schooled on the new "push" penalty, players said Monday. In addition to the mandatory tutorial in training camp from officials, who travel the country to educate teams on new rules, the players were "reminded" as recently as early last week, saidDamon Harrison, a member of the field goal unit.

 

They were reminded because the Patriots seemed to get away with it last week against the Saints, whose defense is coached by Ryan's brother Rob. A wire service photo from the Patriots' game against the Saints in Week 6 seems to show that Chris Jones pushed teammate Will Svitek on Garrett Hartley's 39-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter. Jones and Svitek ran the same technique against the Jets, but the umpire saw it and immediately threw a flag -- 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. It nullified a 56-yard field goal miss byNick Folk, who followed up by nailing one from 42 yards in overtime, lifting the Jets to a 30-27 win.

 

The "push" penalty, on the books this season for the first time, is designed to improve player safety. This was the first time it was enforced.

Former Jets special-teams coach Mike Westhoff, an ESPN Radio analyst, studied a tape of the play and said it was "very, very evident" that it was orchestrated. He said Jones "cheated back in his stance," allowing him to get in position to push Svitek from behind.

 

"I watched the tape. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes," Westhoff said in a phone interview. "I can't prove this -- I don't know what they teach -- but those guys are pretty sharp up there [in New England]. I can't imagine them running a technique and not being aware of it. In my opinion, it was coached, taught and implemented that very way. I think they did it on purpose and got caught."

 

Westhoff said he "blocked a lot of kicks with that same technique," but it was legal up until this season. He said it's an unsafe practice because of "the force it generates," a big body pushing another big body into a blocker.

 

 

DeMario Davis, another special-teams contributor, said he was "very aware of the rule."

 

Patriots coach Bill Belichick admittedly wasn't, acknowledging Monday his postgame interpretation was wrong. Rule 9, Section 1, Article 3 from the rule book is pretty straightforward: "Team B players cannot push teammates on the line of scrimmage into the offensive formation."

 

Willie Colon, another interior blocker on the field goal unit, said "all coaches should have knowledge of the rules." But he conceded he didn't know what was going on until after the game.

 

How could a head coach make such an oversight? Ryan didn't want to go there.

 

"I'm not worried about that," he said, bristling after several questions about the controversy. "The focus is going to be wherever you guys want it to be, but I think we outplayed New England, and I think that's why we won the game."

[kay_gee]

the media's mad dash to redeem the Patriots for losing to the Jets continues. obviously the only way the lowly Jets could ever beat the great Brady/Belichick duo is with help. because the Patriots NEVER get calls in their favor, especially not at home.

[peebag]

 

The New York Jets were aware of the New England Patriots' previous use of the illegal pushing technique on field goals, and they made sure Sunday's game officials knew it, too.

 

In fact, the Jets' sideline alerted the officiating crew during the game to watch out for it, a person familiar with the situation told ESPN.com Monday.

Sure enough, the Patriots were busted in overtime, and it cost them the game.

 

 

 

 

I wonder if this guy was wearing a hoody....

[Maxman]

This is fun!

[Bleedin Green]

I don't get it, is this supposed to be a criticism of the Jets if they did tip off the refs?  If it's true then good, I'm glad they did it, and it was clearly the smart move.  This is no different than those dipsh*ts who tried to paint the Jets as villains because they dared not allow the Patriots to actively cheat against them during the whole spygate fiasco.  Here's an idea, if the Patriots don't want to have to suffer the consequences of their actions maybe they should try a crazy new strategy of actually, oh I don't know, following the rules.

[Klecko73isGod]

Since when is it wrong to work the refs?

[BroadwayJoe12]

Every media member except for maybe one or two has grossly glossed over the fact that this rule was implemented because the players wanted it.  They're the one's who presented it to the NFL, they're the ones who pushed for it to be stopped and if anyone has any right to be pissed off, it's the opposing teams' players who faced the Pats this year. This technique was causing a lot of issues and risked further potential injuries to the point that the players wanted it out; this isn't to say other teams haven't done it, Westy even came out and said he blocked a lot of kicks this way, but to think that the Pats' players weren't coached to do this, in spite of the rules and warnings is not only laughable, but beyond arrogant. 

 

Westy had a little segment on his show talking about how you can see the kid from new england lined up a little backed up out of his stance so as to get the positioning and proper leverage for the play, which emphasizes that there's no way he wasn't taught to do that. Maybe the rules slipped by them, but the odds on favorite is that they just didn't think they'd get caught and now are upset that they are getting punished for doing so.  It's like the person who gets caught cheating getting pissed and causing a scene because their bf/gf found out by going through their phone.

[whodeawhodat]

Since when is it wrong to work the refs?

 

seems like all good head coaches in all sports do it right?

[Thor99]

The old Rex would have been crowing about telling the refs.

Growth.