The Patriots’ penalty for illegally pushing on a field goal block attempt in overtime came to many NFL fans as a surprise because it was the first time that particular penalty had ever been called in a game. But Jets offensive lineman Willie Colon says it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to the Patriots.
In fact, Colon told Newsday that he overheard the officials say that they had warned the Patriots on a previous field-goal attempt about the pushing penalty.
If that’s true, it’s stunning that the Patriots still committed the penalty after the officials had already warned them. It’s also unclear why the officials didn’t throw a flag previously, if they had seen the Patriots break the rule. (The Jets had two field-goal attempts before the penalty in overtime, both good, both from 37 yards.)
The Patriots appeared to get away with the same penalty last week against the Saints, and Albert Breer of NFL Network reported that the Jets alerted the officials to keep an eye on the Patriots’ pushing on field-goal block attempts. Ryan declined to answer when asked about that at his press conference today.
What we can say for sure is that New England won’t have to be warned again. Everyone on the Patriots’ roster and coaching staff has learned that rule the hard way.