The question of whether Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner technically held Chiefs receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling to wipe out a key interception during the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s game isn’t the issue. The question is one of consistency.
Consistency from game to game. Consistency within a given game.
How often do we see contact worse than that not get called in crunch time? In Week 2, there was a mugging in the end zone on a two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game between Denver and Washington. No call. Two weeks ago, the Steelers got away with an apparent pass interference on the last gasp by the Browns.
It’s not a new dynamic. The whistle is swallowed and the flag is buried when the game is on the line. Each official becomes less inclined to be the one to call the foul. While it takes courage to do it, it takes even more guts to disrupt the expectations that arise when the culture evolves to the point of “let them play” when the play matter most.
That’s not to excuse it. The point is that’s the way it is, and last night’s call represents a sudden departure from it.
Also, the call didn’t fit with the flow of this specific game. As one source with knowledge of the situation explained it to PFT, both teams were getting away with worse than that, throughout the game.
Coaches just want the strike zone to stay the same. Ideally, from game to game. At a minimum, throughout a given game.
Last night, the call on Sauce created a sense of very real frustration among Jets fans. For folks who were just watching the game and looking to be entertained, there’s a sense that the call robbed us of a collective moment. An opportunity to witness whether Jets quarterback Zach Wilson could deliver in the clutch, finishing off a dramatic comeback with a win over the defending Super Bowl champions.
And, given the extent to which the NFL is leaning into the Taylor Swift experience, the call is inviting plausible speculation that the league has developed a specific affinity for the team featuring the player for whom Swift has developed a specific affinity. Even if there’s nothing to it, calls like the one made last night will make people of otherwise sound mind believe there is.
