Sauce Gardner claims Jets are penalized more because they're a losing team

New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner thinks NFL officials are penalizing him at a higher rate because the Jets have a losing record. Gardner was penalized for pass interference in the third quarter of Monday's 27-21 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

It marked the second consecutive game in which Gardner was flagged for pass interference.

"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 not winning," Gardner said following Monday's game, per ESPN's Rich Cimini. "I watch these winning programs, and there'd be some egregious things, and it don't get called. They're letting the players play."

The Jets have lost each of their first four games to begin the regular season after committing 13 penalties and coughing up three fumbles against the Dolphins. When Gardner was called for pass interference, Gardner was covering Miami wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and the pass ending up falling incomplete.

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Gardner currently leads the Jets with four penalties, three of which have been accepted by the opposing team. Only four cornerbacks have committed more penalties than Gardner this season.

"I got caught on something today where it's like, I know the route and everything and I'm just supposed to let him just push off at the top of route," Gardner said regarding the play. "I'm seeing him count the steps, all that. He's not going to catch the ball regardless.

"I just feel like, in general, even the Mike Evans [penalty last week], I just feel like us not winning -- it's what goes on if we don't win. I feel like we don't get the calls that we should get, and we get the calls that we probably shouldn't get called for."

Fellow Jets cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr., who was acquired in a trade with the Titans last week, says he's going to start collecting video evidence of what he perceives is a disparity between how New York's secondary is officiated vs. the rest of the NFL. 

On Tuesday, Jets coach Aaron Glenn stated he was planning on submitting some of the penalty calls on the Jets to the league office in an attempt to "get clarification."

"Listen, Sauce said his piece and I'm not going to question what he has to say about that, but I do know this -- we have to put ourselves in position to start getting those calls," Glenn said.

Glenn admitted the Jets have committed some penalties that will need to be "cleaned up."

"There's a number of calls in that game I felt didn't go our way that I felt we should have gotten, and I could easily go through those, but I'm not," Glenn said. "But I do know this: We had a good amount of penalties on our end that we have to clean up. And again, 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."

Aside from a 30-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 2, the Jets have lost each of their other games by six or fewer points. The Jets will try to get into the win column when they host the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5.