Source: Jets alerted officials to Patriots push play, deserve credit

According to reports, the New York Jets told the officials about the New England Patriots use of that push in their attempts to block field goals.  They wanted to make sure the refs were aware of it, so they could call this.  Head coach Rex Ryan has not made much in the way of comments about this publicly, but the fact is, this is a great job by the Jets.  At every level of football, there are teams who will try to push the envelope with the rules and often times there are teams who will try to take advantage of rules that are rarely enforced.  Obviously, if they are not called, they work and the other team potentially loses a game because the referee failed to notice the rules violation.

There are two important reasons coaches will talk to the officials before the game.  The first is if they are going to run something legal but might look funny to the officials.  It could be a motion, a type of fake or how they are going to play a certain type of defense.  The other reason is if there is something they notice on tape that the opponent is doing that is not being called, they are going to let the officials know what it is and prime them to call it.  This is what the Jets did against the Patriots and the referee made the proper call and it resulted in the Jets getting a penalty (as they should) and getting a shorter field goal that allowed them to win the game.

There will be some who spin this as the Jets ratting out the Patriots, but it is important to remember the Patriots were breaking the rules.  The job of the Jets is to win the game; not be cool and allow this to happen to them so the Patriots or anyone else might like them better.  They are looking out for their own best interest, they were right, and they got the right call.  Good job by Rex Ryan and the Jets’ staff.  The Jets got an important win against the favorite to win the AFC East and improved to 3-3.  They take on the Cincinnati Bengals on the road this week.