ORCHARD PARK — It was another Flag Day for the Jets.
The Jets had 16 accepted penalties in the 40-14 loss to the Bills on Sunday.
That is the most they have had since Dec. 23, 2018, when they also had 16 against the Packers.
It is tied for the third-most penalties in franchise history.
“That starts and ends with me,” interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said. “I’ve got to do a better job that obviously it doesn’t happen but there’s a stronger understanding of why that can’t happen. You can’t overcome that against teams, especially a team like Buffalo that’s rolling right now, playing elite football. It killed us, got us behind the sticks multiple times, extended drives for them on offense. Not good enough.”
The Jets now lead the NFL with 131 accepted penalties this season.
It is not a new problem for the Jets but it popped up again and again on Sunday.
They had five personal foul penalties.
It got so bad that even quarterback Aaron Rodgers got an unnecessary roughness penalty for pushing Christian Benford out of bounds after his interception.
“I don’t think I pushed him very hard,” Rodgers said. “I was just chasing after the play.”
There were a few questionable calls, but even if you took those away, the Jets would still have double-digit penalties, giving the Bills help that they did not need.
“At the end of the day, [16] penalties isn’t acceptable at any level of football,” tight end Tyler Conklin said. “To do that, you’re obviously not going to come in here and have a good showing.”
CB Sauce Gardner was questionable to play against the Bills with a hamstring injury.
Gardner did play but exited the game in the first half when the injury began to bother him again.
Gardner said it was important for him to play since he knows the team is going to look different in 2025.
“This locker room is not going to look the same next year in terms of players and coaches,” Gardner said. “It’s one thing in terms of players but coaches who have coached me for three years might not be here next year. I don’t even know what’s going to happen. I was just trying to give my all for them, for the organization, for my teammates, for my coaches.”
Rodgers was sacked four times, bringing his career total to 568, the most in NFL history.
Tom Brady held the mark with 565.
“I got Tom in that,” Rodgers said.
WR Garrett Wilson had seven catches for 66 yards and one touchdown.
He now has 1,053 receiving yards this season.
He is the first Jets player to have 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first three seasons and the 10th player in NFL history to do so.
The last Jet to record three straight 1,000 yards seasons was George Sauer in 1966-68.
His 97 receptions this season are a career high and rank second-most in Jets history behind Brandon Marshall’s mark of 109 in 2015.
