Sauce Gardner gives off a cool and calm demeanor, but beyond that exterior is an elite professional athlete with a singular goal for his team: Winning.
"I want to be a part of something special, I want to be a part of changing culture around here," Gardner said after practice on Wednesday. "I try not to be emotional, like having my feelings all into it when we do interviews. But obviously, losing is not something that I like. Nobody likes losing."
Gardner missed last Sunday's game at Miami with a sore hamstring. It was the first game he's missed this season, even though he said he felt close to well enough to play. Leading up to the game against the Dolphins, interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said he was reluctant to put Gardner on the field if he was not 100 percent.
"I mean, it wasn't severe," he said. "It's just a thing the trainers thought was best for me, but it definitely wasn't a severe issue. That's why I'm already back this week. [Last] Sunday, yeah, I did feel kind of like, kind of close. You know me, I've played through stuff all year, since after Week 1. I feel like even me playing with injuries or with something that bothers me, I'm still gonna be one of the best out there, even if it's something's bothering me. So you know, if it was just up to me, I would have been out there."
Among some observers, there's a sense that Gardner, now in his third season with the Green & White after being selected No. 4 overall out of Cincinnati in the 2022 NFL Draft, has not played up to his standard. He was the league's Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2022, named first-team All-Pro and earned a spot in the Pro Bowl. He followed that up last season with another All-Pro season and a spot in the Pro Bowl. It's always a challenge to improve on excellence.
As he watched from the sideline at Hard Rock Stadium last Sunday, Gardner saw the Dolphins drive for a late tying field goal and then took the overtime kickoff down the field to the winning TD and the 32-26 victory. With Gardner out, the Jets' pass defense struggled, allowing a season high 331 yards to Dolphins wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle who combined for 19 catches, 214 yards and 1 TD while failing to exert pressure on QB Tua Tagovailoa.
"The Miami game, I feel like the offense ... I feel like Aaron [Rodgers], Davante [Adams], the running backs, the receiver, tight ends, the O-line ... All of them did more than enough to win us that game. But as a defense, we got to be able to play complementary football. We got to play how we played the last couple years, like when we were not really expecting our offense to score that many points. We got to win the game ourselves. And I don't know maybe we got too comfortable, having all those guys, all those playmakers on offense to the point where it's like we're not filling up our end of the bargain. We got to be better. You got to be better on defense."
He added: "I know if we had this offense that we have now, and we played nearly as good of defense as we played the last couple years, we'll be chillin' right now."
With four games to play, Gardner is headed for a third-straight losing season with the Green & White. When he was asked about how he'd go about changing the culture at 1 Jets Drive, his answer was short and to the point.
"Man, first we gotta win."
