On Wednesday, Jets coach Robert Saleh said he would speak to the league about the foul called Sunday in Dallas against defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, in which the passer was rudely tackled. Saleh reportedly received a response.
Via Brian Costello of the New York Post, the league told the Jets that the foul should not have been called and that the hit was legal.
“I can’t train anything to do this differently because he was pulled down and his face was still touching the hip above the knee, which is still legal,” Saleh had told reporters. “So everything was legal.”
The NFL agreed. Not that it really matters now.
The flag was thrown on a third-down play from the Jets’ 11. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s pass to receiver CeeDee Lamb was incomplete. The Cowboys, who were leading 10-7 at the time, probably would have opted for a field goal.
Instead, they got a new set of downs in the five. Dallas eventually scored a touchdown.
The problem with the gross foul continues to be that the rules expressly require referees to throw the flag when in doubt. This means there will be cases where legal hits will be reported if officers resolve any doubts in the manner in which they are instructed.
In this case, Franklin-Myers seemed to do poorly. Although the hit was ultimately clean, there was clearly enough doubt to draw a flag.
The simple solution is to remove the default “when in doubt”. Until this happens, rude calls will occur from time to time that should not have been made.