NFL is OK with ref helping Patriots avoid penalty on last play vs. Jets

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New England Patriots linebacker Dont'a Hightower could have been penalized for lining up over the center as the New York Jets prepared to attempt what would have been the game-winning field goal on "Thursday Night Football."

But he wasn't.

Instead, Hightower was nudged by an official and moved out of the way before the ball was snapped, thus avoiding a five-yard penalty that would have given Jets kicker Nick Folk one more chance after his original 58-yard attempt was blocked.

So the Patriots escaped with 27-25 victory, thanks to a little assistance from an official.

And the NFL is OK with this ... and not because of some sort of favoritism toward Coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

"It is a standard officiating procedure that occurs regularly," league spokesman Greg Aiello told NJ.com in an email. "In fact, it is on [vice president for officiating] Dean Blandino’s video that went to the teams [Thursday] and will be on the version of it that goes to the media [Friday]. That rule was adopted for player safety purposes, another good reason to help avoid violations in advance."

Blandino followed up on the incident Friday morning on "NFL AM."

"We call it preventative officiating," Blandino said.

"Because it's a player safety rule we're trying to avoid a situation before it happens, so the umpires will get in there and move that player out of there."

Twitter: @chewkiii