Sauce Gardner: Jets' biggest problem is execution, not energy
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, left, scores a touchdown as Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner (1) defends during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. Credit: AP/Ross D. Franklin
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Sauce Gardner is “shocked” at how this season has gone for the Jets and believes poor execution, not a lack of energy, is the biggest culprit.
“People can say we need to bring the energy, we need to bring the energy, but it’s not really the energy,” Gardner said. “Energy is something that you have leading up to the game. When you get in the game, it’s execution.”
There is no denying that the Jets’ energy has been low in some of their recent losses. Davante Adams pointed it out after two of the four games he’s played for them. Gardner sees it a little differently.
According to Gardner, the Jets’ execution problems are leading to their energy crisis.
“The plays that you make, that’s what creates energy. That’s what really creates energy, bro,” Gardner said. “I’ll be seeing certain stuff and hearing stuff: We got to bring the energy. It’s not about that. Ballers are going to ball. When you get on the field, you’re going to ball. That’s what we get paid for. That’s what everybody expects.”
Execution and energy go hand-in-hand. The Jets (3-7) have had difficulties in both areas. They’re a fragile team that allows their energy to wane when they’re not executing well enough.
The Jets head into Sunday’s game against Indianapolis having lost six of seven. The one win, against the Texans, was fueled by a stirring second-half comeback in which energy was not an issue because execution wasn’t.
Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes after halftime against Houston, two of them coming on one-handed grabs by Garrett Wilson. The Jets were celebrating every play, playing with more passion and purpose and feeding off the energy of the MetLife Stadium crowd.
That’s been the outlier in the last seven games because the Jets just haven’t made that many big plays or produced game-changing, momentum-shifting moments on either side of the football.
The Jets have one takeaway in their last five games and only 10 sacks in their last six losses.
In last week’s humiliating 25-point defeat in Arizona, the defense allowed touchdowns on four of the Cardinals’ first five possessions and the Jets’ offense didn’t get in the end zone at all.
Wilson shared Gardner’s sentiments that better execution leads to more energy.
“If you’re making plays, if you’re showing emotion after you make those plays — but you got to make the play in the first place,” Wilson said. “There wasn’t a lot of that on Sunday. So all of a sudden you look on the sideline, it may not look as energetic as the other sideline.
“If that’s the consensus on us, then we got to find a way to fix it. But just from where I stand and what I’ve seen this season, I’m not going to sit here and say that we got to find a way to have some energy to get some pseudo-confidence. Confidence comes from going out and playing good football, and once we do that, I think that’ll take care of itself.”
Passing-game coordinator Todd Downing said it’s “natural human instinct” to have “a lull” when things aren’t going your way. He said the offensive players have to avoid a collective sense of doom and gloom when adversity strikes.
“We’re always fighting that,” Downing said. “We certainly have the talent. We just need to get out there and have the mindset that things will eventually go our way and not have that feeling of ‘here we go again’ or ‘man, we’re snakebitten or cursed’ or something like that. We need to go out there with the joy of a kid playing this game and believe that it’s going to turn around.”
Another kicking change
The Jets will have their fourth kicker in four weeks. Practice squad member Anders Carlson is in line to kick against the Colts after Kansas City signed Spencer Shrader off the Jets’ practice squad because of Harrison Butker’s knee injury.
Shrader’s two field goals against Arizona accounted for all of the Jets’ scoring last week. Shrader replaced Riley Patterson, who was cut. Patterson replaced Greg Zuerlein, who is on injured reserve.
Special teams coordinator Brant Boyer, in his weekly news conference Thursday, praised the job Shrader did. Not long after Boyer left the room, it was reported that Kansas City was signing Shrader.
Injury updates
Adams (illness/wrist soreness) missed his second consecutive practice . . . Tyron Smith (neck) and C.J. Mosley (neck) also did not practice.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
