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The New York Jets lost 23-20 versus the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4 on Sunday Night Football.
However, Sauce Gardner believes the Chiefs got lucky with how things turned out at the end of the game.
“The receiver ran into me, there was a collision, same thing that was happening all game and they ain’t throw no flags. Pat [Mahomes] threw the ball outside of the receiver, MC [Michael Carter II] was there, he made the play, then the ref threw the flag,” Sauce explained.
“Me personally, that’s like when you play basketball 1-on-1 and you go up to lay the ball up and they wait to see you miss and then they say foul. Honestly, I can’t believe that. That was just crazy. Like I don’t even think they threw the ball my way at me for the first three quarters and then they started throwing checkdowns and then the shot that they try to take, then they finally get bailed out by that. Fourth quarter crunch time? I don’t even know what to say.”
With 4:29 remaining in the fourth quarter, Mahomes threw what appeared to be his third interception of the game on third and 20 from the NYJ 40-yard line to MC2.
However, after Carter intercepted the pass, a late flag came in from the official. Sauce was flagged for defensive holding, only a five-yard penalty, however it resulted in an automatic first down which gave the Chiefs new life.
Kansas City would never give the ball up and would run out the rest of the clock securing the 23-20 victory.
“It’s really frustrating, I ain’t even gonna lie,” Sauce told the media. “If you really gonna call holding, [then] call it early, don’t wait until after you see MC pick the ball off to throw the flag. It was just like a roller coaster of emotions because I seen MC catch the ball and then I see him reaching grabbing his flag and it don’t really make sense. It is what it is.”
Social Media Outrage Over Jets-Chiefs Ending
Sauce didn’t think it was a penalty under any circumstances, but if it was a penalty, he didn’t appreciate the ref slow playing it and seemingly reacting to the moment in the game as opposed to just calling it straight down the line.
“I ain’t been in the league a long time but I kinda know that’s not how you do things. I ain’t hold him at the end, I don’t think I held him to begin with. Football is physical. Somebody run into me there is going to be contact. I’m a long/tall dude and he [the Chiefs wideout] a tall guy too. That’s just how it’s going to be, but if you gonna call that flag and you really feel that way call it early, don’t call it after you see MC pick the ball off,” Sauce said.
The man who actually intercepted the ball, Carter, said after the game in the locker room that he didn’t think what Sauce did was “that egregious.”
“I think he [the ref] threw it after the pick too,” Carter II said. “Obviously I don’t agree with it, I would like to have an interception but like I was saying we had plenty of other opportunities so we gotta do better as a defense.”
MC2 admitted that he was really “surprised” that there was a flag after they were already celebrating the turnover.
“It was surprising, but it is what it is. They threw a flag and the game ended how it ended.”
Head coach Robert Saleh couldn’t hide his frustration over the play screaming on the sideline. The extracurricular activity eventually drew the ire of the officials, and they docked him with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that ended up officially wiping the rest of the time off the clock.
After the game he responded to questions about some of the calls and said, “I have a lot of thoughts on it but I’m going to stay quiet.”
The Jet Press posted on X previously Twitter that, “Robert Saleh knows it. Everyone on the Jets sideline knows it. The refs decided this game. Referee saw the INT and threw the flag after it happened. Decided the game. NFL should be embarrassed. This was disgusting.”
Jets’ Jermaine Johnson Penalty Also Raises Serious Questions
The interception, non-interception was the most egregious error by the officials, but there was another play that was certainly in the running.
With 6:21 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs faced another third and long [23]. Mahomes scrambled for 25 yards to convert, but the footage certainly appeared to show a hold on Jets defensive lineman Jermaine Johnson.
Online this non-call was labeled an “egregious” miss by the officials.
After the game Johnson was asked about the play and didn’t hold back.
“I got grabbed and obviously I already had the one personal [foul], so I didn’t want to try and get him off of me and then I get another one and I’m out the game. So, I [was] just trying to signal to a ref, yo I can’t move like I’m trying to show resistance because I know that is what they need to see. I want that one back. I should have never put myself in a position to hold me. I just want that one back. That was a 25-yard scramble by him, and guys were playing with 10 on the field and I have to live with that.”
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