Penalty gnaws at Jets’ Jenkins

Jordan Jenkins was anticipating getting chip-blocked by a running back. It was fourth-and-2 for the Panthers last week, and Jenkins figured there was an extra blocker coming his way. In his mind, he thought he had to anticipate the snap and get past the blocker quick.

Then, quarterback Cam Newton changed up his cadence, added a few rapid claps at the end, and Jenkins did the unthinkable — he jumped offside. It was a first down for the Panthers, who went on to score a touchdown in the third quarter.

“That definitely shocked me,” Jenkins said. “It was the first time in my NFL career that I jumped offsides. I chose to do it at a crucial time. You always wish to have it back, but it’s something I’ll definitely learn from and will think about in years to come to eliminate that.”

Jenkins has been one of the least-penalized Jets. He had one penalty last year for hands to the face, and the offside call was his third penalty this year — he had another hands to the face call and an unnecessary roughness.

“That was bad timing,” he said of his mistake. Special teams coach

Brant Boyer said it was a total breakdown of his punt team last week on the return for touchdown by Panthers returner Kaelin Clay in the fourth quarter.

“Well, it’s a unit-wide deal and it starts with me, first and foremost,” Boyer said. “We had done a relatively good job of covering those punts for three quarters. As a coach, I have to keep them focused for all four quarters. It’s a unit breakdown — from the kick, they didn’t stack as they were running down there, to the coverage to tackling to everything, so that’s my fault as a coach and we’ll get that fixed. It was everything, so that is on me.”