NY Jets CB D.J. Reed rips NFL referees in NSFW social media rant after Week 13 loss

The NY Jets have a lot of people to blame for their embarrassing 26-21 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 13. The likes of Aaron Rodgers, Breece Hall, etc. are all culpable for yet another Jets letdown on Sunday. But Jets cornerback D.J. Reed has other ideas.

Reed took to X (formerly Twitter) after the game to express his displeasure with the officiating in Sunday's loss. The Jets' cornerback didn't mince words, tweeting that the referees "f—ing suck" and that the league should be "ashamed."

The Jets were penalized 12 times for 83 yards in Sunday's game, including a whopping eight times in the fourth quarter alone. The Seahawks, for comparison, were only penalized five times all game.

Those fourth-quarter penalties proved to be crushing as the Jets gave up 10 unanswered points in the final 15 minutes to surrender a 21-16 lead and lose their ninth game of the season. They've now lost eight of their last nine games and have clinched a ninth straight losing season.

D.J. Reed calls out NFL refs after NY Jets' Week 13 loss

The Jets entered Week 13 with the fourth-most penalties in the NFL this season. They similarly led the league in penalties by a wide margin under Robert Saleh in 2023 as well.

It should also be noted that Carl Cheffers, the crew chief for the Jets-Seahawks game, is notoriously stingy with throwing flags. His crew has called the second-fewest penalties in the NFL in 2024 and also threw the second-fewest flags in 2023.

Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner took a different approach than his position-mate, refusing to blame the referees for his team's shortcomings when speaking to reporters after the game.

"I'm not going to sit up here and just talk bad about the refs. Nobody's perfect, they were doing their job how they feel was the highest level. And that's just what it is, and we've just got to live with those results and so do they."

Sauce Gardner

Reed's frustration is understandable given his team's humiliating collapse, but the Jets only have themselves to blame for this loss. Rodgers and the Jets had an opportunity to take a 28-7 lead in the second quarter before an airmailed pass and a Leonard Williams pick-six changed the game.

While you can probably argue one or two of those fourth-quarter penalties, the majority of them were completely self-inflicted and valid calls by the officials. The Jets are the reason the Jets lost this game.

Reed and the Jets can deflect blame all they want, but their disastrous 3-9 record is entirely of their own making. This is the mess they created.

More NY Jets news and analysis: