Sauce Gardner fires back at criticism of his ‘costliest’ Jets play in feisty deleted social media posts

Things are not going well for the Jets this season and the frustration of Sauce Gardner seemed to boil over on Monday as the corner took to social media to hit back at his critics after another Gang Green loss over the weekend. 

Gardner missed a crucial tackle in the second quarter on a drive that ended with the Cardinals taking a 21-6 lead. 

While Gardner owned up to the mistake on Sunday, he was firing back at those pointing it out on Monday as he posted and then deleted a response toward a reporter for ESPN who covers the Jets and a fan who often posts social media content about the team. 

ESPN’s Rich Cimini described the missed tackle as the game’s “costliest” in a post on X, which drew a response from Gardner that was quickly deleted. 

“Yup, I’m 100% sure me missing that tackle at the beginning of the 2nd quarter for a gain of 17 yards was the costliest miss and that is in fact what lost us the game,” Gardner had written late Monday morning. 

Later that same day, Gardner again appeared to go after another critic. 

Jets fan and content creator Matt O’Leary posted a clip calling on Gardner to take his lumps and for the team to take some accountability for the way they have played. 

Gardner caught wind of the clip and posted a message on X to O’Leary that he later took down. 

“I am very accountable, and my teammates know,” he wrote, according to Jets X Factor. “I owe it to them, not you or anybody else on this app. I missed ONE tackle and gave up like 19 yards. Do I want each of those plays back? Of course. But how about you come play corner in the NFL for a week and let me know how it goes?”

The Jets dropped to 3-7 with their latest loss to the Cardinals on Sunday and sit well below .500 in an ugly AFC East. 

Gardner had acknowledged the missed tackle when speaking with reporters after the game, telling them “I’ve got to make that tackle.” 

“I’ve just got to make that tackle,” Gardner said. “As a team, I don’t know. I know we always practice it — D-line, [linebackers] secondary — we always practice it. It starts with me. I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to make the tackle.”

Gardner wasn’t the only defender that missed a tackle in the loss, with Next Gen Stats indicating the Jets missed 20 tackles in the game.