Rex Ryan outwits Bill Belichick by tattling to the referees


When the Patriots were flagged for unnecessary roughness at the end of yesterday's loss, it surprised the hell out of nearly everyone in the stadium and watching at home.

It was a brand new rule, forbidding a defender from pushing a teammate into an opposing player. However, it was also a rule poorly explained by the league. Belchick's interpretation of the rule was that what Chris Jones was doing was still legal, and this was backed up by the explanation of the rule from the league. However, the league website was edited shortly after the game.

That doesn't mean necessarily that the league changed the rule to screw over the Patriots, it means that the Patriots were trying to exploit what they saw as a loophole, but in reality was illegal but just poorly explained by the NFL.

Still, not poorly explained enough for the coaches over on the Jets to not understand it.

The Patriots did the exact same thing on a fourth quarter field goal against the Saints the week before. In that instance, it was not called. In fact yesterday was the first time the penalty was ever called. Coincidence?


The above wasn't a fluke either. Belchick admitted that he was coaching the players to do this, with his understanding being that it was legal, which it wasn't.


So, is it possible that Rex Ryan and his coaching staff noticed the Patriots breaking this rule, and made sure that the refs knew about it? According to Albert Breer, the answer is a definite yes.



The Patriots didn't just lose because of the penalty, if anything they lost because of coaching. The NFL is certainly partly to blame for not explaining the rule correctly, but instead of Belichick trying to exploit what he saw as a loophole, the staff should've clarified and asked the league if they were allowed to do what they had Chris Jones doing.

After all, it's a little detail that didn't get by the Jets coaching staff. And that small detail won the Jets the game, usually it's the other way around.



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