If the Jets-Giants old-time rivalry heats up in the coming preseasons and in their once-an-Olympiad regular-season meetings, Jets corner Sauce Gardner and Giants wideout Malik Nabers may have a lot to do with stoking those competitive fires.

After the two didn't have very much head-to-head action and the joint workout that was otherwise "won" by the Jets defense had ended, Sauce stayed on his side of the field but still stepped toward the Giants sideline to wave several goodbyes to the Giants, for now. The teams will reunite for Saturday night's final preseason game at MetLife Stadium.

"We were just having fun out there," Gardner told Jets reporters. "Two New York teams, we all know each other pretty much outside of football. We were just having fun with it. ... It was all love, nothing disrespectful. At the end of the day, we're all competing, being competitive."

Nabers, the sixth overall pick of the April draft, also tipped his hat toward the Jets, saying of the Saucy sayonaras, "They can do that. I mean, they won on the day. Their defense came out, executed well. We beat ourselves today."

It was an interesting exchange between two NFL names, Gardner's already established as a two-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro in his two seasons and Nabers' just starting to be established.

Gardner's take on Nabers' game: "He's nice. He's very sudden when it comes to getting in and out of his breaks. I know this might sound kind of weird, but he reminds me of an LSU receiver, a little Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. I'm not going to compare him to anybody because at the end of the day he's Malik, but those are two guys he reminds me of a little bit. He's going to be a really good player."

Jets head coach Robert Saleh also had a positive scouting report on the Giants' No. 9 before practice.

"He's "dynamic, an elite competitor. Freaky, freaky," Saleh said. "You could argue he could've been the No. 1 receiver [in the draft], but he's a very special talent, a special mindset, and the Giants definitely got a really good one."

The Green & White, of course, also have a good one heading toward great in Gardner, who, like all veterans at all positions all around the league, has gotten used to using these combined practices as his preseason games — the Jets' work with the Giants was their third different opponent in a joint practice the past three weeks — while possibly getting no reps in any of the three actual summer games.

But that's fine by Gardner, who put these big workouts to the best use possible.

"Going up against the Commanders, the Panthers and even the Giants, they all had a pretty good group of receivers. They've been getting me right in the joint practices and being able to compete," he said. "I think teams around the league, players and coaches, they respect our defense, and that never makes us relent. We know the group that we have, and at the end of the day, we're going to attack practice whether it's against a different-color jersey or the same-color jersey."

And just in case anyone thinks the Jets vets won't have peak focus, with no preseason game reps, for their Sept. 9 opener at the 49ers, well, Sauce has got that covered, too.

"I've been looking at San Fran for a couple of weeks," he said. "If we've got joint practices against the Commanders, Carolina and the Giants, I don't want to be watching San Francisco the whole week. But I've definitely been watching them to see how they operate. They've got veteran guys, a pretty good quarterback. And Chris McCaffrey, don't forget him. I know what he do."

And the NFL knows what Gardner does. His numbers went down from his rookie year to last season — from two interceptions to zero, from a league-leading 20 pass defenses to 12. But if he were to rebound this season with, let's say, 25 PDs, a high number but doable if the Jets pass rush combines with the play of corners D.J. Reed and Michael Carter to force QBs to throw Gardner's way more, then Sauce would have 57 PDs over three seasons. That would match one the best three-year periods of Hall of Famer Darrelle Revis' Jets career, from 2008-10.

More achievements and awards are headed Gardner's way, and it will be hard-fought joint sessions like the three he had this summer that will set the stage for what he will do in the regular season. As he said about the practice against the Giants:

"it was very competitive. I had fun out there today."