Jim Nantz praises losing Jets for beating Patriots (VIDEO)

While New England Patriots and New York Jets players were walking on the field for the post-game handshake on Sunday, CBS announcer Jim Nantz was congratulating the underdog Jets for their stunning win over Tom Brady and the mighty Pats. The only problem: The Jets lost.

This was no verbal mix-up; Nantz discussed the Jets "stunning" victory before the final play of the game was confirmed by the referee and proclaimed the Jets as leaders of the AFC East after the announcement. He finally corrected himself with a slight chuckle of embarrassment:

There are only two explanations for the egregious mistakes:

1. Nantz was looking directly at Tim Tebow and automatically assumed He had won.

2. Jimbo was thinking about the Jets getting 10.5 points and beating the spread.

If it's the second one (hint, hint), I don't blame Nantz for getting confused. He's not able to talk about point spreads on broadcasts (or he's strongly discouraged from doing so). When he mentions the word "underdog" his mind probably freezes up.

And why can't (or why don't) NFL announcers discuss point spreads? The NFL Network runs fantasy tickers 24/7 but Nantz and Al Michaels aren't able to openly talk about betting lines? How puritanical! While watching football on Sunday, I saw 25 beer commercials and at least five Fox promos for New Girl featuring Zooey Deschanel talking about not wearing underwear. Sunday's 60 Minutes, which aired minutes after Nantz's faux pas, showed Steve Kroft inspecting marijuana nuggets and saying "stems and sticks" like he was singing back up at a Snoop Dogg concert. I think America's virgin ears can take some talk about the Vegas lines. (Then again, the NFL does like to completely ignore the existence of things.)

On another note, I couldn't believe the Jets walked on the field for the handshake while the last play was still under review. It was an obvious fumble, of course, but referee Jeff Triplette has made calls that were far worse.