Tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins recorded a career-high eight catches for 46 yards and a touchdown in the Jets' 24-17 Week 6 loss to the Patriots, but his effort will most likely be masked by a touchdown that wasn't.
With 8:31 remaining in regulation and the Green & White down 10 facing a second-and-goal from the 4-yard line, Seferian-Jenkins muscled his way through two Patriots defenders for what appeared to be his second score of the day. After replay review, referee Tony Corrente announced Seferian-Jenkins lost the ball before crossing the pylon, regained possession, but didn't complete the full recovery process, which resulted in a touchback.
"I feel like I scored, but at the end of the day, that's what the ref called and I'm going with what the ref said," Seferian-Jenkins said. "They make the calls and I have to have better ball security. I have to review the tape and make the necessary corrections so that doesn't happen again."
The 6'6", 262-pounder, along with a multitude of his teammates, believed he punched it in for six.
"We all thought it was a touchdown," running back Matt Forte said. "At the least, we thought his knee was down and that he was going to be down at the one-inch line. I didn't hear any explanation on why it was a touchback. I still need to get the explanation on that because he didn't lose the ball, so I'm confused on why that's a touchback."
Following the game, Corrente explained why the call was reversed.
"It came out of his control as he was almost to the ground," he 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."
Despite a 24-17 final score, head coach Todd Bowles and his players made it a point that the team did not lose because of one play.
"It's difficult to take the loss," Bowles said. "It's not just the one play. We lost the ball game. They made more plays than us. You have to give them credit. They're great for a reason. We'll go back to the drawing board and play better."
