Sauce Gardner Rips Questionable 3rd-And-20 Holding Call That Virtually Gave Chiefs The Win

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New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner has taken to Twitter to address the 4th quarter holding call in Gang Green’s Sunday Night Football game against the Chiefs that virtually sealed the win for Kansas City.

Responding to a clip of Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes discussing the call on the radio, Gardner definitively claimed that the play was not holding or illegal contact.

“Since we are commenting, let me say it from my perspective. For starters, this was around 5-7 yds from the LOS… not 15. 2. I extended my arms and he made the choice to lean on me with all of his weight which caused my hand to slide to the back of his pad; not his neck,” Gardner said.

“I did not grab him, I actually made a conscious effort to remove my right arm as you can see in the video. He then tried to swim with his right hand and I pushed his arm down with my left hand lmaoo.. There yall have it. It was not a holding or illegal contact. Ohh my fault, it was holding bc he threw the flag.”

As a result of the holding call, which occurred on the final drive of the game, the Chiefs’ 3rd-and-20 from the Jets 40 became a 1st-and-10 from the 35. From there, the Chiefs would convert two more third downs on the drive in order to run out the clock, with Mahomes sliding before reaching the goal line on a 9-yard scramble to seal the win.

While the Jets may have lost the game, it was actually a positive night for the team as the defense largely shut Patrick Mahomes down following the first quarter. More important, though, was the fact that Zach Wilson showed signs of life and played the best game of his NFL career thus far.

Wilson will look to keep his momentum going and lead the Jets to their second win of the 2023 season when they take on the Denver Broncos this weekend.