Jets’ Sauce Gardner fires back (again) at refs who called him for costly penalty in loss to Chiefs

Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner fired a second shot at refs who called him for a costly fourth-quarter penalty that helped the Kansas City Chiefs — cheered on by pop star Taylor Swift — avoid an upset on Sunday night with a 23-20 win at MetLife Stadium.
Gardner was penalized after the Chiefs failed on a third-and-20 — with the Jets trailing by three points and just under five minutes remaining. A flag was thrown after Michael Carter II intercepted a pass by Patrick Mahomes. Although replays showed that Gardner appeared to grab Marquez Valdes-Scantling, the flag was thrown late.
After Jets head coach Robert Saleh asked the NFL for explanations about the “bizarre” calls, Gardner, who criticized the call after the game, posted further comments on Twitter on Monday night:
“Since we are commenting, let me say it from my perspective,” Gardner wrote. “For starters, this was around 5-7 yds from the LOS ... not 15. 2. I extended my arms and he made the choice to lean on me with all of his weight which caused my hand to slide to the back of his pad; not his neck I did not grab him, I actually made a conscious effort to remove my right arm as you can see in the video he then tried to swim with his right hand and I pushed his arm down with my left hand lmaoo.. There yall have it. It was not a holding or illegal contact. Ohh my fault, it was holding bc he threw the flag.”
After the game, Gardner cast suspicion on the call.
“Pat threw the ball outside the receiver, MC was there, and he made the play.,” Gardner said. “Then the ref threw the flag. To me personally, that’s like when you play basketball one-on-one and you go up to make the basket, and they wait to see if you miss, and then call the foul. I can’t believe that happened. That was just crazy.”
Officials also missed an obvious holding penalty against the Chiefs earlier in the possession when Mahomes scrambled for a first down on a third-and-23.