A blown call by the officials cost the Jets a touchdown on Monday night, as a Jay Cutler fumble was wrongly blown dead just as Demario Davis was picking it up with a clear path to the end zone. But Jets coach Rex Ryan wouldn’t complain afterward.
When reporters pressed Ryan about the play, he declined to blast the officiating, perhaps conscious of the fact that he could get fined by the NFL if he did.
“I’ll let you guys figure out how frustrating that is,” Ryan said.
Davis was a little more talkative afterward.
“I knew it was a fumble,” Davis said. “I knew when I picked it up that it was a fumble. And it should’ve been a touchdown. I talked to a couple referees before [Monday] and they said that they are supposed to let that play stay open. They are taught to call that a fumble, because you always can review it. But if you blow it dead, then the play dies there. That came back to bit us in the butt. But we didn’t have the best officiating in our game. But it comes with the territory. That’s not an excuse for us. We have to play better.”
The Jets have to play better. But the officials also have to call the game better. Ryan knows he can only get away with saying one of those two things.
