How Jonathan Jones reacted to controversial penalty in overtime

Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones was whistled for a 20-yard defensive pass interference call that gave Seattle a 1st-and-10 just outside midfield when all the Seahawks needed was a field goal to win the game Sunday.

According to NFL rules, defensive pass interference is called when any act by a player more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage significantly hinders an eligible player’s opportunity to catch the ball.

The ball hit Seattle’s Tyler Lockett right in the hands and he dropped it. It’s unclear what the referee thought Jones did to hinder Lockett’s chances to catch the ball.

After Seattle’s 23-20 win, Jones told reporters he would like an explanation on why the flag was called.

“Without getting fined, I would like someone from the officiating office and NFL to kind of show where the penalty was,” Jones said. “In overtime, I don’t feel like that’s a penalty. The receiver acknowledged that it wasn’t a penalty, but it’s out of my hands. [The referee] got the flag to throw and he threw it.”

Jones said Lockett came up to him and said that he didn’t believe that Jones should have been flagged.

“He said that’s not a penalty, straight up,” Jones said. “It sucks. I kind of feel like that was the play of the game.”

Patriots safety Kyle Dugger also expressed doubt about the correctness of the call.

“I’m not going to bash the refs,” Dugger said. “I know there’s both physicality going on from them, but I feel like it definitely wasn’t called in the right direction, as far as I mean, I feel like they were both battling and they kind of just chose to say the defensive guy.”