Sauce Gardner believes he has a target on his back with the officials due to the Jets’ woeful ways.
Speaking Monday after Gang Green dropped to 0-4 following an ugly 27-21 road loss to the Dolphins, the 25-year-old cornerback suggested flags are flying in his direction because the Jets are a losing team.
“I’m personally frustrated,” Gardner said, according to The Post’s Brian Costello. “I feel like me personally, us not winning. I watch football all the time and I just feel like, I don’t know if this is wrong to say, but I think I get called for more stuff just based off of us and just not winning. I watch these winning programs, and it’d be some egregious things, and it don’t get called letting the players play.”
Sauce Gardner believes the officials are targeting him because of the Jets’ losing ways. Bill Kostroun for New York Post
Sauce Gardner in action for the Jets on Sept. 29, 2025, against the Dolphins. Getty ImagesGarnder, who inked a four-year, $120.4 million extension in the offseason, was flagged for pass interference in the second half when covering Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, resulting in a 10-yard penalty.
He was also hit with a pass interference call in the Jets’ crushing 29-27 loss to the Buccaneers in Tampa last week.
Gardner was hardly the only Jet to get flagged Monday night as the team tallied 13 penalties for 101 yards.
“Here’s what I do know, you have to earn the right to get a lot of these calls,” head coach Aaron Glenn said Tuesday. “There were a number of calls in that game I felt that didn’t go our way that I thought we should’ve gotten … We had a good amount of penalties on our end that we have to clean up. We’re talking about a team that had two years of leading the league in penalties and we’re still trying to clean those things up. But I don’t want to put it all on that. I want to talk about that in-house and make sure we do everything to clean those things up.”
Sauce Gardner was also flagged for pass interference against the Buccaneers in Week 3. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn ImagesWith the Cowboys (1-2-1) rolling into MetLife Stadium Sunday, the first-year coach said his team needs to take a valuable lesson to heart.
“We have to understand that before you can win games, you have to learn how not to lose games,” Glenn said after the loss. “We have to do a better job in that case and we will.”
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Oct. 5.
