Jets’ Sauce Gardner won’t let Garrett Wilson take blame for ‘crazy’ call

Sauce Gardner said what Garrett Wilson wouldn’t. 

The offensive pass interference penalty on the Jets star wide receiver, which took away a Gang Green touchdown in an ugly, penalty-filled loss to the Dolphins on Monday night, was not the right call. 

“That [offensive pass interference] was crazy. I’m going to say why it’s crazy,” the Jets cornerback said Thursday. “I get pushed so much at the top of the route. I get receivers pushing off of me at the top of the route so much. That’s why it was crazy.”

Gardner believes the winless Jets are getting unfairly targeted by officials, in part because they aren’t winning. They are the 10th-most penalized team in the league, with 32 flags — 13 coming in the loss to the Dolphins. 

Gardner addressed the issue Monday night, saying, “We don’t win, we don’t get the calls we should get, and we get calls we probably shouldn’t get called for.” 

Coach Aaron Glenn said Tuesday he planned to submit some of the calls that have gone against the Jets to the league office to “get clarification.” 

While Gardner declined to go too deep into that topic again, the team’s No. 1 cornerback was willing to offer his opinion on the call against Wilson. With the Jets trailing the Dolphins by 14 points late in the third quarter, Wilson made a sensational grab on what should’ve been an 18-yard touchdown pass. But he was called for offensive pass interference for lightly pushing off against cornerback Jack Jones.

The Jets had to settle for a field goal instead of the touchdown. 

What was so frustrating about the call to Gardner is that he frequently deals with receivers using their hands against him, and yet that almost never gets called in his favor.

Gardner was whistled for a pass interference penalty Monday and has been called for four penalties (three accepted), the most on the team. There are only four cornerbacks in the league with more penalties.

A year ago, Gardner was flagged 10 times. 

“Just being mindful of it, I guess. The crazy thing is sometimes it takes you getting one to be like, ‘OK,’ ” Gardner, a two-time first team All-Pro, said. “Then you got different groups [of officials] coming in. Then you have to also deal with the other side, which is the receivers pushing off and certain things like that. How do I combat that? When they push, can I pull? When they push, if I pull, they’re going to call it on me still because that’s what they do. People want to see points on the board. If it’s ever close, it’s going to be on the corner.”

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When asked if different officials call the game differently, like a baseball umpire having different strike zones compared to others, Gardner believes they all favor receivers over cornerbacks.

Last year, for instance, there were 75 penalties thrown for offensive pass interference compared to 315 for defensive pass interference and 184 for defensive holding.

It is a similar ratio this year: 14 flags for offensive pass interference, 67 for defensive pass interference and 55 for defensive holding. 

“Corner is already the hardest position to play in the league. That doesn’t make it [any] easier,” Gardner said. “Especially being somebody my size, being aggressive, and [there are] receivers built just like me, but they can be more aggressive when it comes to trying to get open.”

Wilson faulted himself for the costly penalty, saying he can’t give the officials an opportunity to even make that call. 

“I got to do my part to make sure that there’s no gray area, no confusion for the ref and he’s not forced to make that judgment call,” Wilson said. “At the end of the day, I probably didn’t need it. I’ll clean that up and I’ll catch it without using none of that.”

When told of that comment, Gardner laughed to himself, calling it a good answer. He also knows better. 

“Garrett is going to do that again, for sure,” Gardner said. “If Garrett is in that situation, he’s going to do that, and it might not be called. It’s probably not going to get called. Garrett is not going to just fade because that allows the corner to get closer to him, making him have to try twice as hard to make the catch.”