On Sunday night, following a disappointing 26-21 loss to the Seahawks, Jets cornerback D.J. Reed ripped officials after the team committed 12 penalties for 83 yards.
“@NFLOfficiating you f—— suck, yall should be ashamed of yall selves.!” Reed said on X.
During his Zoom press conference on Monday, Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said he was aware of Reed’s comments but declined to share his opinion about the post.
“I’m going to have a conversation with D.J. regarding it,” Ulbrich said. “That will be between the two of us. I love D.J. to death.
“He’s a guy that stands for everything with the way that he plays. The style of play is competitive, tough, scrappy. He’s a big part of why this defense has been as good as it has been the last couple of years.”
In Sunday’s loss, the Jets looked undisciplined after committing five penalties during a single drive in the fourth quarter. Two of those gave Seattle a first down.
The most egregious penalty was the Jets’ too-many-men-on-the-field infraction on 4th and 6. Believing the Seahawks were going to punt, returner Xavier Gipson came onto the field despite the Jets’ defense still being on the field and Seattle punter Michael Dickson having back spasms. Then, on the very next play on 4th and 1, Jets cornerback Qwan’tez Stiggers was called for pass interference, which gave the Seahawks a first down.
Penalties have been a problem for the Jets the last two seasons. A year ago, the Jets committed the most penalties in the league (124) and are currently fourth in the category with five games remaining (89).
Reed was flagged for pass interference in the first quarter, which led to a Geno Smith touchdown pass to tight end AJ Barner.
The refs, they’re not perfect,” cornerback Sauce Gardner said. “We’re not perfect. If they think they see something, they’re going to throw the flag.
“So I’m not going to sit up here and just talk bad about the refs. Nobody’s perfect. They were doing their job how they felt. It’s the highest level, and that’s just what it is. And we got to live with those results.”
To add insult to injury, Ulbrich also had a Matt Eberflus moment at the end of the first half. Seattle had the ball with a minute left before halftime. Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith completed a pass to running back Zach Charbonnet with 1:02 left, but Ulbrich decided not to use a timeout, and the clock continued to run with the team leading 21-16.
Because of that, the Seahawks punted the ball back to the Jets with six seconds left on their 36-yard-line. Gang Green ran just two plays and headed to the locker room.
“I’ll take full blame for that,” Ulbrich said after the game. “They were going for it on fourth down. Initially, we thought their punt team was coming out, so their punt return unit went out, and then they decided to go for it on fourth.
“We have to be better at communicating that across the board. I’m so accustomed to signaling to the guys near the ball, forget sometimes that the returner is back there. That’s unacceptable.”
