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New York Jets unhappy with call against New England Patriots

By Alex Butler
New England Patriots Malcolm Butler and Duran Harmon force New York Jets Austin Seferian-Jenkins to fumble the football as he dives for the end zone in a play that was ruled, after a replay by officials, a touchback, giving the Patriots the ball in a controversial decision in Week 6 of the NFL Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
1 of 2 | New England Patriots Malcolm Butler and Duran Harmon force New York Jets Austin Seferian-Jenkins to fumble the football as he dives for the end zone in a play that was ruled, after a replay by officials, a touchback, giving the Patriots the ball in a controversial decision in Week 6 of the NFL Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Austin Seferian-Jenkins had a four-yard touchdown catch called back in the New York Jets' loss to the New England Patriots.

And the Jets still think it was a score.

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New England led New York 24-14 with 8:24 remaining in Sunday's 24-17 loss. Jets quarterback Josh McCown faced a second and four on the New England four-yard line. McCown fired a short pass to Seferian-Jenkins, who wrestled two defenders into the end zone.

The ball popped loose as Seferian-Jenkins was falling to the ground, but the tight end never appeared to fully lose control of it. The play was originally ruled a touchdown.

After reviewing the play, referees reversed the call and called it a touchback, giving the ball to the Patriots and wiping the touchdown off the scoreboard.

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"When you look at the replay, I thought it was a BS call," Jets wide receiver Jermaine Kearse told reporters after the game. "But at the end of the day when you play teams like that, you got to just beat 'em. You can't rely on small calls like that. I'm pretty sure everybody is going to look back and say that was a BS call."

After hearing the reversal, Seferian-Jenkins pleaded his case to referees, but the ruling did not change. He said after the game that he let his team down.

"I feel like I scored," Seferian-Jenkins told reporters. "But at the end of the day, that's what the ref called. I'm going with what the ref said and I have to have better ball security. I have to make sure I make the necessary corrections so that doesn't happen again."

Seferian-Jenkins said he wasn't taking the high road, but the "honest road."

"I can't take it back. It's not going to say touchdown, it's a fumble and a touchback," he told reporters in his postgame comments. "That's what it is. It's not like I'm taking the high road, I'm just saying what the facts are. I don't think it does anything for me to come up here and blast the official or blast the rule. The rule is the rule. They called it. It is what it is. I have to do a better job of having better ball security so it doesn't happen again. If I catch the ball and run through both of them and don't fumble or anything than that's what it is. I don't feel like I fumbled but it is what it is. I can't control that. I have a game next week. This game's over with. They played well. They made two more plays than us to win and that's what it is."

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Jets coach Todd Bowles said the play wasn't "demoralizing."

"It's frustrating from that standpoint, but we had other plays in the game we could have made to make up for that. I'm not going to blame this game on one play," he told reporters.

Referee Tony Corrente gave an explanation of the ruling in a pool report.

"The final shot that we saw was from the end zone that showed the New York Jets' runner, we'll call him a runner at that point, with the football starting to go toward the ground," Corrente said, according to the pool report. "He lost the ball. It came out of his control as he was almost to the ground. 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."

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Corrente also called the ruling "obvious."

"Well, we went through two or three primary looks and then this other shot came up. When the other shot came up, it was just 'boom, boom, boom.' It was a pretty quick determination. It was pretty obvious."

Former VPs of NFL officiating Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino said on Fox that the touchdown should have stood as originally called.

"It didn't seem clear and obvious to change the call on the field," Blandino said on the broadcast. "...Either way they ruled."

Seferian-Jenkins had eight catches for 46 yards and a score in the loss.

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