Jets head coach Robert Saleh showcased his frustrations on the sideline after the Patriots benefitted from a controversial roughing-the-passer penalty late in the first half, and doubled down after New England's 22-17 victory.
Jets defensive end John Franklin Myers was penalized for his hit on Patriots quarterback Mac Jones on a play that Jones threw an interception to New York cornerback Michael Carter II. Carter returned Jones' throw 84 yards for what would have been a pick-six should the flag not have been thrown. Benefitting from a 15-yard gain and new set of downs, the Patriots instead kicked a 42-yard field goal five plays later to cut New York's advantage to 10-6 at the half.
"Ten-point swing, was it? Seventeen maybe, if you count what happened in the second half?" a frustrated Saleh told reporters after the Week 8 contest, per the team. "So, yeah, it was a costly penalty."
Saleh was asked if he received any insight on why the call was made by officials and added: "Yeah, he (Jones) was hit too hard."
The Jets likely would have taken a 17-3 lead into the intermission should it not have been called. The Patriots scored 19 unanswered points following the penalty, which came with 37 seconds left in the first half.
"I don't know if it was deflating, you know, we stalled a little bit on offense, obviously," Saleh continued. "They (Patriots) had a good drive coming out, credit to them, good drive to start the second half. Other than that, I didn't feel like they were able to do what they wanted from a defensive standpoint, offensively we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot, not allowing ourselves to continue drives and stack together consecutive good plays."
When asked about another penalty in the contest, Saleh seemingly made reference to the roughing the passer again, saying, "I don't understand that one either."
The Jets fell to 5-3 with the loss at MetLife Stadium while the Patriots improved to 4-4.
