Flags again cause Jets fits

TAMPA, Fla. — Todd Bowles has tried everything to cure the Jets’ penalty disease. He better keep trying. “We’re a physical team and you have to understand some things are gonna come with that,” Steve McLendon said after the Buccaneers beat the Jets, 15-10, on Sunday. “You have to learn to play a little bit smarter. That’s all of us. Stay physical, but learn to play within the rules.

“Everybody knows we’re a highly penalized team and the referee is gonna be looking at that, but we still have to play smart. We still have to finish the game. Sixty minutes at the end of the day.”

Eight more penalties for 77 yards at the end of the day at Raymond James Stadium.

And at the end of the day in the fourth quarter, a third-and-10 pass interference call against Darryl Roberts defending DeSean Jackson prolonged the Ryan Fitzpatrick touchdown drive that sealed the deal.

“It’s tough,” safety Marcus Maye said. “I mean I feel like now we have that on us, so we just have to find a way to get it off. We’re playing aggressive, but we just got to play clean and keep the penalties off us.”

An illegal contact call on Maye against Jackson nullified an interception for him. Guard Brian Winters was flagged twice for holding.

“It’s tough,” receiver Robby Anderson said. “It’s just us hurting ourselves. A lot of our mistakes and stuff is not really like blown coverage or them stopping us. It’s just us stopping ourselves. We got to cross that bridge and we got to solve that issue.”

The Jets are the league’s second-most penalized team (81), behind the Seahawks (94).

“I think we finished with eight ... felt like it was more than that,” Bowles said. “They keep setting us back, and we have to find a way to fix it.”