NFL Ref Explains Why Jets Fumble Resulted In Patriots Touchback

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Are you wondering how a New York Jets touchdown turned into a touchback for the New England Patriots? You’re not alone.

Jets tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins fumbled during a play that initially was ruled a 1-yard touchdown. But because he fumbled after the catch and didn’t “survive the recovery” after falling to the turf out of bounds and through the end zone, it was called a fumble out of bounds and touchback for the Patriots.

The play was one of the NFL season’s most controversial, so it warranted a pool report with NFL referee Tony Corrente.

Here’s the full transcript.

The key quote is this one:

“He lost the ball. It came out of his control as he was almost to the ground,” Corrente said. “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.”

Corrent said “it was a pretty easy determination” and “it was pretty obvious” once they saw a replay shot from out of the end zone. We think that’s this one:

#Jets just got screwed on this Austin Seferian-Jenkins call…ruled a touchback and the Pats ball. pic.twitter.com/nVLRNsHwjD

— 📽️ Red Tribe Cinema (@ClayWendler) October 15, 2017