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Following a sloppy performance filled with penalties in Monday night’s 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sounded off about the officiating in the game.
“It seemed a little ridiculous,” Rodgers said after the game, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “Some of [the calls] seemed really bad, including the roughing the passer on me [by AJ Epenesa]. That’s not roughing the passer. You might as well play Sarcastaball [a reference to the TV show South Park] if we’re going to call those things. And I thought the one on [Javon] Kinlaw wasn’t roughing the passer, either.”
The Jets and Bills combined for a whopping 22 penalties and 204 yards in Monday’s contest, with New York accounting for 11 for 110 yards. The Jets had multiple key plays called back by the officials, including a third-quarter touchdown run by Braelon Allen that would’ve given the team a 27-20 lead but was nullified by a holding penalty on veteran left tackle Tyron Smith, which Rodgers referred to as a “phantom holding call.”
New York star receiver Garrett Wilson called the penalties and missed opportunities “demoralizing” and said, “We have to find a way to score touchdowns because I don’t want to keep feeling like this.”
The Jets were hoping the massive shakeup last week would pay dividends, as head coach Robert Saleh was surprisingly fired and replaced by defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was also stripped of his play-calling duties in favor of passing game coordinator Todd Downing.
However, Monday’s game was much of the same for New York. The team went 1-of-4 in red zone opportunities and veteran kicker Greg Zuerlein missed a pair of field goals in the second half. The Jets (2-4) have now lost three straight games by a combined total of 10 points, with the last two games ending with interceptions thrown by Rodgers.
“We need to get going,” Rodgers said. “This was a golden opportunity. Some games you win in the NFL, and some games you give away. This was a giveaway.”
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