If Woody Johnson thought the Jets were going to stop committing penalties once Robert Saleh was fired, he got a rude reminder Sunday that was not the case.
The Jets committed 12 penalties in their 26-21 loss to the Seahawks at MetLife Stadium, with a whopping eight penalties coming in the fourth quarter.
“I have to look at every single one of those penalties and see exactly if they’re real,” Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said. “If they’re not real, [see] what caused them and get to the bottom of it. It’s not OK. It’s not acceptable. It’s not our standard. Penalties ultimately extend drives. We can’t let that happen.”
The Jets completely melted down in the fourth quarter. They had three penalties on fourth downs, two that gave the Seahawks first downs on the Seahawks’ game-winning drive.
It was clear some Jets did not think the calls were good ones.
Cornerback D.J. Reed took to X and voiced his unhappiness.
“@NFLOfficiating you [expletive] suck, yall should be ashamed of yall selves.!” Reed posted.
It was not quite Matt Eberflus, but Ulbrich had a questionable game-management decision at the end of the first half.
The Seahawks had the ball with 1:05 left and the Jets had three timeouts. The Seahawks threw a short pass to get to their own 21 and set up a third-and-4 with just about a minute left. Ulbrich could have used a timeout and the Jets would have had about 50 seconds left and the ball around midfield with a chance to score more points and tack onto their 21-13 lead. Instead, he let the clock run, and the Jets got the ball back with six seconds left. They ran two plays and went to the locker room.
“What stopped me was that it was third-and-4, and this is one of the better third-and-2 to -6 teams in the league,” Ulbrich said. “It’s a high-percentage play, and they’ve converted that on most people most of the time. I just wanted to get out of the half and try to inhibit them from getting a score there. In hindsight, it might not have been the best thing to do.”
Jets CB Sauce Gardner left the game in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury. Gardner said he does not think it is serious.
“I feel straight,” Gardner said. “We’re going to see exactly what it is going on. I don’t think it’s too, too crazy. Me, I never had hamstring injuries or nothing like that. I don’t know what it is, but I’m going to be good.”
RT Morgan Moses left the game in the first quarter with a shoulder injury and did not return. Carter Warren played in his place.
LB C.J. Mosley (neck) missed his fifth straight game.