NE vs NYJ - Late Hit
 

I have no dog in this hunt, so this is not from a fanboy state of mind...

Did anyone else see the hit on the interception at the end of the game, and then the flag, and think (as I did) - when he made that hit, the player was not even yet down ... how could it be late?

It's irrelevant since there were 3 personal fouls by NYJ on the play (one against an official) so NE would have the ball at the NYJ 9-yard line either way.

I would not call it a late hit if I saw it at full speed.

I thought the personal foul was for the NYJ lineman going at the NE player's knees after he was OOB.

Yet, by rule, he was not yet out of bounds.

Well, at least they were consistent. By rule Geno Smith wasn't OOB yet when David of Tampa Bay shoved him in WK1.

Maybe the NFL has instructed its officials not to split hairs in these situations?

Fair point.

I want to see a play where a ball-carrier is giving themself up by going out of bounds, who is hit while airborne before actually landing out of bounds, and it causes a fumble which lands in the field of play.

I do see a difference between Smith, who was clearly going out of bounds, and this play where he started to give himself up, then changed his mind and took a couple more yards, and then jumped backward toward the out of bounds. But I also see your point.

Rule 12, Article 2

Article 6: Unnecessary Roughness: There shall be no unnecessary roughness. This shall include, but will not be limited to:

(b) contacting a runner when he is out of bounds;

Note: Defensive players must make an effort to avoid contact. Players on defense are responsible for knowing when a runner has crossed the boundary line, except in doubtful cases where he might step on a boundary line and continue parallel with it.

This seems in line with other UNR calls where the runner is technically still airborne, but clearly crossed OOB to end the play.

If I remember the play correctly, the Jets' player contacted the returner after he had crossed the boundary and was clearly going to be OOB.

"Clearly" - there's the difference. Geno Smith was simply running out of bounds. On the NYJ/NE play, the interceptor was heading out of bounds and appeared to be letting up ... then suddenly decided NOT to go out of bounds and picked up a few extra yards. THEN, when he was out of space and just about to be hit, he jumped backwards out of bounds and was hit during that jump.

Mangold didn't begin his dive at the knees of Talib until Talib was over the boundary line.