Duo pay price for being late

A pair of tardy Jets served their punishments in different forms Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

Linebacker Darron Lee was a surprise inactive after being late to practice Saturday and defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson was benched until late in the first quarter for arriving late to a meeting, according to a source.

Todd Bowles called both moves “a coach’s decision,” adding that Lee and Wilkerson will be active next week.

“I apologized to the team,” Lee said. “I let my guys down today. … I took full responsibility for my violation. It is what it is, move forward from it.”

It was the third straight year Wilkerson has been disciplined for being late. He was benched against the Dolphins last year and the Giants two years ago.

“It was a coach’s decision,” Wilkerson said. “We spoke about it. We thought that that was best for the game, for the team. That’s that.”

Neither Lee nor Wilkerson was willing to offer more details.

“We have rules,” Bowles said. “We make rules. We have coach’s decisions. We make them and we move on. I’m not going to stand here and detail everything that is wrong with every one of my players.”

Wilkerson stood on the sideline with his helmet on before finally getting to take the field on the Chiefs’ fourth drive of the game that started with less than a minute left in the first quarter. He made his time on the field count, leading the team with six tackles and adding half a sack.

Julian Stanford started in Lee’s spot and made three tackles.

“I shouldn’t be the story. The story today should be how we won this game,” Lee said. “It’s over with. I already paid it. I’ll see y’all Sunday, I’ll be playing in Denver.”

Fellow linebacker Jordan Jenkins said he didn’t find out about Lee’s punishment until he saw the inactive list today but hoped he could use it as a learning experience moving forward.

“D-Lee’s not going to let something like this bog him down,” Jenkins said. “He’s going to keep his head up, keep showing up to work and just keep balling. He’s matured a lot since I first met him back in the [NFL] combine days.”

Lee entered Sunday second on the team with 86 tackles in addition to three sacks and two forced fumbles in his second year out of Ohio State.