New York Jets corner Sauce Gardner dominates again, but his stat line includes a blemish he strongly refutes
Rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner is on a rampage. The New York Jets‘ young phenom was unbeatable once again in Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots, as he was credited with allowing 1 yard across 4 throws in his direction. Over his past three games, Gardner has been credited with allowing 25 yards on 20 targets (1.3 yards per target).
However, Gardner’s stat line against the Patriots includes one blemish: An allowed touchdown.
From what I have seen, just about every major statistical website on the internet blamed Gardner for allowing this touchdown pass to wide receiver Jakobi Meyers:
Mac Jones to Jakobi Meyers for a TD on 4th down pic.twitter.com/hGPg9uiUJi
— Main Team (@MainTeamSports2) October 30, 2022
It appears that Patriots tight end Hunter Henry gets away with offensive pass interference on Gardner, which cleared up Meyers for the touchdown and prevented Gardner from making a play. It also appears that Jets free safety Lamarcus Joyner may have been responsible for Meyers, as he is late to react to New England’s motion and follow Meyers over to the defense’s left side.
Gardner is not happy with the stat-trackers who charged him with the touchdown.
On Monday afternoon, Gardner tagged Pro Football Focus in a since-deleted tweet that said, “y’all been getting out of hand with putting TDs on me”. He claims he “came off [his] man to make a tackle”.
Gardner also refutes the other touchdown he was blamed for, which came against the Browns in Week 2 when Amari Cooper caught a touchdown in his area. Joyner was also involved in that play, which was another apparent miscommunication.
Regardless of what the touchdown column says, it cannot be disputed that Gardner is playing at a superstar-caliber level right now. Week after week, he dominates his matchups on a routine basis.
