{"id":353872,"date":"2025-09-09T09:35:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T09:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/353872\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T09:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T09:35:10","slug":"sauce-gardner-calls-ny-jets-defensive-performance-unacceptable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/353872\/","title":{"rendered":"Sauce Gardner calls NY Jets defensive performance &#8216;unacceptable&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New York Jets topped 31 points for only the second time since 2022, but it wasn\u2019t enough in a <a href=\"https:\/\/jetsxfactor.com\/2025\/09\/07\/jets-open-aaron-glenn-era-with-hard-fought-34-32-loss-to-steelers\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">season-opening loss<\/a> to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pouring salt on the fresh wound was the fact that former Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers tossed four touchdowns in the 34-32 defeat.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the media following the rough loss, All-Pro cornerback <a href=\"https:\/\/jetsxfactor.com\/team\/sauce-gardner\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sauce Gardner<\/a> spoke bluntly about his unit\u2019s performance while emphasizing the importance of complementing Gang Green\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The] reality is us, as a defense, the guys that have been here aren\u2019t really used to the offense putting that many points up,\u201d Gardner told reporters. \u201cAs a defense, we\u2019ve got to just complement the offense when they\u2019re doing certain things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers aside, Gardner also said the defense allowing four passing touchdowns on Sunday was \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not just a Rodgers thing; it\u2019s a quarterback in general,\u201d Sauce added. \u201cYou said he had four throwing touchdowns? That\u2019s unacceptable. As a defense, [we have] to be better.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Much of the Jets\u2019 secondary struggles stemmed from cornerback Brandon Stephens, who signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/jetsxfactor.com\/2025\/03\/19\/ny-jets-brandon-stephens-cb-contract\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">three-year, $36 million deal<\/a> in the offseason. <\/p>\n<p>Targeted seven times in Week 1, he allowed five catches for 60 yards and two touchdowns, was flagged for defensive pass interference, and gave up an abysmal 136.9 passer rating when targeted.<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, Gardner opened the 2025 season in dominant form, surrendering only one completion for 11 yards, a bizarre tip-drill fluke that landed in DK Metcalf\u2019s hands. He otherwise blanketed Rodgers\u2019 targets and finished without a missed tackle.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Sauce Gardner\u2019s strong outing was overshadowed by costly lapses that led to four Pittsburgh Steelers touchdowns. With Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills\u2019 explosive offense <a href=\"https:\/\/jetsxfactor.com\/info\/schedule\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">up next on the schedule<\/a>, the New York Jets know they must find consistency on the back end to avoid a 0-2 start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Jets topped 31 points for only the second time since 2022, but it wasn\u2019t enough&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[1586,10062,7,3228,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,52914,3916,57,7536,3234],"class_list":{"0":"post-353872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-brandon-stephens","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-free-content","12":"tag-jets","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-jets","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkjets","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-ny-jets-game-story","19":"tag-ny-jets-players","20":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","21":"tag-sauce-gardner","22":"tag-standard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115173663183719846","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}