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The NY Jets pulled off arguably the most improbable win of the Week 1 NFL slate. With Zach Wilson matching Josh Allen blow for blow after Aaron Rodgers was lost for the season with a torn Achilles, it took a rookie in Xavier Gipson to push the Jets to 1-0 for the first time since the 2018 season.
Gipson returned a punt back for a touchdown in overtime, giving the Jets a 22-16 victory just a few quarters after the air was taken out of Metlife Stadium due to the Rodgers injury. Football fans across the country were elated to see this finish, but some grouches weren't overly pleased.
ESPN rules analyst John Parry was furious when Gipson ran that punt back for a touchdown, as he believes that backup linebacker and special teams ace Chazz Surratt should have been flagged for tripping in the final stages of the punt return.
Parry has made himself an enemy for life in the eyes of Jets Twitter, as declaring the win should have an "asterisk" attached to it like a 1990s baseball player's home run total is the dictionary definition of being a lame stick in the mud who tried to ruin the event.
"You've gotta put an asterisk on it because there's a tripping call that was not made. A trip, a leg whip, right near the 23-yard line, No. 55, which would have brought the touchdown back."
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 12, 2023
ESPN's John Parry says that Jets LB Chazz Surratt should have been flagged on the GW-TD pic.twitter.com/QwP10ArAAx
NY Jets win over the Bills does not deserve an asterisk
After losing Rodgers for the season (and maybe forever), the Jets rallied to the point where they surrendered just one touchdown, coaxed four turnovers out of Allen, and even won the special teams battle. That was a complete win, not the product of a fluke.
One has to wonder what Parry's mindset when watching games is. If your first thought watching Gipson, an undrafted free agent who had to earn everything he got in the NFL, win his debut game on an unfathomably emotional night is "that shouldn't count," get your priorities in order.
Even if they called the penalty, the Jets would have been in field goal range for Greg Zuerlein to likely nail a ball through the uprights and seal the victory. Let the Jets have this moment, John. With Wilson at quarterback, who knows how many more of these moments the Jets will have?
The most frustrating part about this whole debate is the fact that Parry's first instinct was to take this amazing emotional moment and suck all the fun out of it. Let Gipson and a drained Jets team have their moments in the sun and leave the petty complaints in the back of your mind.