EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Whether you thought the reversal of Austin Seferian-Jenkins’s fourth-quarter touchdown Sunday for the Jets was right or wrong probably says more about your zip code than how many angles you saw of the replay.
That was certainly the case when it came to the players involved.
“I feel like I scored,” Seferian-Jenkins said after the game, which his team lost, 24-17.
“From my angle on replay, I didn’t see the ball fumbled. I saw it bobbled and I saw him gain control of it,” Jets coach Todd Bowles agreed.
“I’m pretty sure everybody’s going to look back and say that was a b.s. call,” receiver Jermaine Kearse told the New York media.
Those in white and blue, not green, felt differently.
“Good rule,” Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler said. “I love that.”
With 8:31 to play, the Jets had second and goal at the Patriots’ 4-yard line trailing by 10. Quarterback Josh McCown threw short left to his tight end, Seferian-Jenkins, who caught the ball around the 5. Seferian-Jenkins turned upfield and was met first by safety Duron Harmon, then by Butler. With both defenders draped on him, Seferian-Jenkins crashed into the pylon.
The down judge, Patrick Turner, signaled touchdown. The video boards around the field lit up: JETS SCORE!
Butler protested wildly. He’d felt the ball in the process of falling, and he was sure that it had been loose when Seferian-Jenkins crossed the line.
“I just reached in there and took a chance at the ball and I’d seen it juggle and I just told the ref that the ball came loose as he was going over and he said it’s going to get reviewed,” Butler said.
The ruling on the field was overturned. According to replay officials in New York, Seferian-Jenkins lost control of the ball while going to the ground. By the time he regained control and got to the ground to regain possession, he was out of bounds in the end zone. The result? Loss of the touchdown, and a touchback. Patriots’ ball.
Video: Seferian-Jenkins TD overturned
“Because he lost the ball on his way to the ground the first time and had to re-grasp, that means now it’s a loose ball,” referee Tony Corrente said via pool reporter Bob Glauber of Newsday. “He has to have control and survive the ground in the process of the recovery or, as we say, the process of the catch. So that’s what that was about.”
Corrente said the end zone camera was the definitive angle the NFL’s officiating crew used to overturn the call on the field.
“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,” Corrente said. “It was pretty obvious.”
Obvious as trigonometry, apparently.
“In the stadium it was hard to tell how they could overturn it,” McCown said. “Like all the people in the stadium, I thought he scored. I thought he was in the end zone.”
Not all the people in the stadium felt that way.
“I love it. I love it,” Harmon said. “Especially as a defensive player, you know? That’s an opportunity to get a 7-point swing, a 6-point swing and get the ball back to your offense and I mean, it’s helped us.”
The Jets lost by 7, so the reversal will surely be re-litigated in the papers and on talk radio all week, while the Patriots enjoy their perch atop the AFC East. Regardless of the call, Butler showed nice awareness getting his hand on the ball in the first place.
“He has a knack for that,” said Bill Belichick, who also said he “absolutely” coaches his defensive backs to force turnovers at the goal line.
The three defensive backs who were closest to the play — Butler, Harmon, and safety Patrick Chung — all admitted that their feelings about the ruling and the rule itself would be different had things not gone in their favor.
“I like the rule right now, so I’ll take it,” Chung said.
If it had been Rob Gronkowski or another Patriot who’d lost a touchdown via the same sequence of events, would Butler say it was the wrong call, and a terrible rule?
“Yeah,” he said with a chuckle. “I would say that.”
Points for honesty.
Nora Princiotti can be reached at nora.princiotti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @NoraPrinciotti.