Jets’ Robert Saleh wants NFL explanation for calls on ‘bizarre’ final drive vs. Chiefs

Jets coach Robert Saleh was fuming at the referees on Sunday night, as the Chiefs drove down the field for more than seven minutes before ultimately running out the clock to secure a dramatic 23-20 victory at MetLife Stadium.
Saleh was furious enough to get flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct in the final moments of the game. A day later, he was still unhappy and unwilling to talk about the Sauce Gardner holding penalty that nullified a Jets interception on third-and-20 that would have given them the ball at their own 32 and a chance to win the game with 4:29 left.
“I’m going to leave that one alone until we get clarification,” Saleh said, confirming that he had asked the league to explain the calls from a final drive that he characterized, more than once, as bizarre.
The Chiefs led the Jets 23-20 when they took over with 7:24 left in the game after recovering Zach Wilson’s fumble at the Jets’ 47.
Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City then bled all that time off the clock with a 15-play, 45-yard drive that ended with three kneel-downs inside the Jets’ 5. And you didn’t have have to read between the lines to see that Saleh felt the officials helped the Chiefs run out the clock.
“It was a series of unfortunate events,” Saleh said. “A seven-and-a-half-minute drive that was aided by non-calls, calls. It was just bizarre. I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of a drive like that to end a football game. Especially a game like that on national television.
“Unfortunate. I’m still trying to understand what we could have done better and we’re still trying to figure out how we can coach things better. Like I said, we’ll get clarification and go from there.”
Late Sunday night, Gardner said he was unhappy with both the call and the referee’s delayed flag throw. The contact that refs penalized Gardner for came before the ball was thrown. But the ref didn’t reach for his flag until he saw Michael Carter II come down with the interception. That alone is a very good reason for the Jets to be upset.
It wasn’t the only play the Jets were not happy with. On third-and-23 with 6:21 remaining, Mahomes scrambled 24 yards for a killer of a first down. It appeared that edge rusher Jermaine Johnson was held throughout the play, but it’s more difficult to criticize the official (who kept the flag in his pocket) in this case, because Johnson at one point appeared to stop fighting through the contact.
After the game, Johnson said that he believed he was held but also took blame for being a non-factor on the play. And while the officiating certainly didn’t help their cause, it wasn’t the reason the Jets lost.
There were plays they could have defended better on the final drive, or in the first quarter when they gave up 17 points and 215 yards of offense on three possessions.
Saleh and the Jets know that. But they also know that complaining publicly about critical calls they didn’t like could help them get the benefit of the doubt later.