Sauce Gardner had a 56 pound problem . . .

Sauce Gardner fired back at his critics on social media about his missed tackle on tight end Trey McBride in the second quarter of the Jets’ loss to Arizona on Sunday.

On third-and-seven, with the Jets down 14-6, Cardinals QB Kyler Murray completed a short pass to McBride. Gardner had him seemingly wrapped up, but the tight end broke the tackle attempt, and gained 17 yards.

ESPN’s Rich Cimini tweeted this play was the game’s “costliest” in a post on X, and Gardner responded on Twitter:  “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.”

A Jets fan on Twitter called for the cornerback to be more accountable, and Gardner responded,  “I am very accountable, and my teammates know. 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?”

Of course this missed tackle was far from ideal for the Jets, but let’s keep something in mind here – McBride outweighs Gardner by 56 pounds.

And where was Gardner’s help? He was tussling with the players for a few seconds trying to bring him down, dealing with a major weight disadvantage. Where were the reinforcements to help bring McBride down?

Here is the thing about skinny, fast, twitchy #1 corners like Gardner – most are not built to be great tacklers.

Hall of Fame cornerback, Deion Sanders, wasn’t a good tackler, and there are many more examples of elite cover corners who were inconsistent tacklers.

Gardner should have made the tackle, but he had plenty of company in the missed tackle department in Arizona, including from players in the front seven who are built to be great tacklers, but aren’t, but they keep rolling with them do to defiant loyalty.

The Jets have a lot of issues right now. Not sure Sauce Gardner is near the top of the list.

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Dan Leberfeld
Dan Leberfeldhttps://www.jetsconfidential.com
Publisher of Jets Confidential Magazine. Call 1-800-932-4557 (M-F, 12-4) to subscribe. Co-host of Press Coverage every Saturday on SiriusXM NFL Radio from 11-2.

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