Sauce Gardner fires back at NY Jets fans and media in embarrassing social media posts

NY Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner has come under heavy criticism for his performance this season. Following consecutive first-team All-Pro honors to begin his NFL career, Gardner has taken a step back in his third year in the NFL.

Gardner doesn't seem to be a fan of this increased criticism, and he's taken to social media to not only express his displeasure, but to call out specific fans and members of the media.

ESPN's Rich Cimini posted a recap of the Jets' Week 10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday that referred to Gardner's missed tackle of tight end Trey McBride as "the costliest miss." Cimini noted the Jets missed 20 total tackles as a team but that Gardner's was the most crucial.

Gardner didn't take kindly to Cimini's assertion, calling him out in a since-deleted tweet that seemed to absolve himself of blame and shift criticism to his teammates. The post can be seen below.

Sauce Gardner continued his social media tirade against NY Jets media on Monday

Gardner deleted the post minutes later, likely because he didn't want to deal with the backlash from the tweet. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that he learned his lesson.

Just hours later, Gardner once again took to social media, this time calling out a Jets content creator, Matt O'Leary, over remarks about the All-Pro cornerback's lack of accountability.

Gardner insisted he only missed "one tackle" before imploring O'Leary to "come play corner in the NFL for a week." It should be noted that this was not a response to a post. Gardner went out of his way to tag O'Leary in a separate tweet for the entire world to see. Below is the, of course, since-deleted tweet.

Gardner has been the subject of immense criticism from Jets fans this season, and while some of the criticism has admittedly gone too far, a lot of it is valid. The former Cincinnati star has not played up to the absurdly high standards that he set for himself.

Gardner's tackling has become one of the biggest concerns with his game. His 33.3% missed tackle rate is the worst among all NFL defenders with at least 200 run-defense snaps played. He has an abysmal 36.4 Pro Football Focus tackling grade on the season.

It would be one thing if Gardner was simply underperforming on the field. The cornerback position is so volatile, which makes it extremely rare to see year-over-year dominance even from the best of the best. Patrick Surtain II notably had a down year in 2023 as well. It happens.

Unfortunately, Gardner's social media tirades and insistences on arguing with media members isn't going to sit well with the Jets fan base, especially when his comments seem to contradict his insistence that he's "very accountable."

I don't personally know Sauce Gardner, but I know social media can be a hellscape, especially for public figures who face criticism daily. Frustration is understandable, but taking the time to argue with fans and media members on Twitter probably isn't worth anyone's time and energy.

You don't see respected team leaders around the NFL arguing with beat reporters about their own individual stats when their team is 3-7. You don't see franchise cornerstones personally calling out fan content creators on social media.

Sometimes it's just best to log off and live to fight another day. That's advice we can all use from time to time.

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