A Conversation with Jets Pro Bowl CB Sauce Gardner (12/27)

every Sunday and go against the best man. So this is true Blessing. How did you find out about the Pro Bowl invite? Um? Who was the first person with Ald you? Uh? I want to say when our media people? Oh really yeah, but it was like the day it was the day of type thing, like right, it was right before you know what I mean, so all right now he might be he might just be playing, you know, so I had to watching on TV and I've seen

it like it was. That was great because that was one of my individual accolades, you know, to the three that I have, that's one though. So that was a great start, man, that was a true blessed. What did it mean to you even though you knew you had the invite in your pocket when you were watching the show and they actually announced your name and it was great. Man, it meant a lot. But I've seen when it was introducing the the guys, I was trying to see like if I was gonna be a starter or what it

was gonna be, you know. So I remember texting. I text Jared, I'm like my pro boled starter and like, I know the DBS just coming up, and he took too long to text me. So I'm like, oh man, they gotta hurry up. So now I've seen I was

a starter. I'm like, man, that's real cool. Man. Sure you were a great college player, never gave up a touchdown in your college career, And what did you anticipate as far as the transition is concerned, because right now, after team games, you leave the National Football League in p d s and now you're starting to get treatment like we saw we saw from a guy who was a great player here in years past, ral Rievers teams aren't throwing your way too often. Man, it means a lot.

You know what I'm you know what I mean to be able to just do what I do as a rookie. But now I gotta just keep staying humble, you know, because at the moment I get too lax, too complace, and that's when you know team's gonna go at me. But you know, coming in, I definitely expected to be targeted a lot. You know, I expected for everybody to go to go at me each and every week because

I'm a rookie, you know what I mean. But you know some games that I haven't, I didn't really get tried, you know, but I didn't know who was gonna be like that. But now that's your a great sign of respect. You know. For me, it's kind of a double edged sword, right because after the Troy game, you're saying, man, I was frustrated because nobody's even thrown my way, But that's such a sign of respect. If they're not gonna target

your side, definitely, uh, it go hand. And I just wanted that to be my best game, you know, the season, because it was Detroit. It was my hometown, so you know, I wanted I wanted to, you know, make a lot of plays. But you know, I wasn't really just mad, but I was like Nan that was supposed to be the game for sure. What was it like for you to go home over Christmas weekend and spend some time with your family and also what kind of reaction do you get from people going back home? Oh? Man, my

city loves me. Man, you know, growing up on the East side of Detroit, you know, they always loved me. No, I can truly say my family probably had the best Christmas ever. You know, I just gotta get thanks to the NFL, to the Jets in the game of football, because I honored so much and the things that my family wanted, the kids. You know, I was able to make that happen. So you know that was great and truly blessed for that. Your mom sees, um, she means

so much too. What did you get hurt for this Christmas? Your first one in the National Football Lake. I just got a mink coat. You know, I heard my grandma. They always wanted, you know, a mink coat. You know, when I was growing up, they always like, yeah, I'm gonna get a mink coat. This is this and that. That was it real. You know, she she has pretty much everything, you know, so it's not really too much that I can get her. You know, she living, she living a dream for sure. How much did you carry

Detroit with you on the field. I carry Detroit a lot with me, you know. Growing up, I never lived nowhere outside of Detroit. Like, for as long as I was in Detroit, I always lived on the East side of Detroit. I always lived in like the toughest areas I grew up. It's the places called seven Mile on the east Side. No, there was a tough area, a

lot of violence going on. But you know, like I said, that's why my mom is my road model, She's my superhero because no matter all that violence that was going on, my mom was strict, strict about it. She wanted me to, you know, take a different route, take it to be on a different path, you know what I mean. So, like I was one of them people who always wanted to be different. No, my mom is to tell me, like, yeah, your friends they do this, they do that. What are

you going to do to be different? If you want to go where you want to go? You know. So I remember I could only control what I could control. So I said, I was never gonna smoke or drink, and I never did. I still never have, you know. Uh. Now, I prod myself and stuff like that, because I remember, like in college, he's trying to prepress me, not prepresson, and he's like, man, just just just drink, you know what I mean. But you know, I'm a man of

my word. And uh no, That's why I appreciate my mom so much because she was able to help guide me, you know, on on the on the right path. So you're so determined and you're seeing that success right now in the National Football League or one thing that I talked to Bart about is that mentality when you do come from Detroit, as far as talking and how much that's part of your game. Can can you talk about how early you get the gift to gab, you know, as far as getting after people in in between those

white lines. Um, I mean, if you're gonna be confident, you gotta just be confident. You can't, like I hate those types of people would be quiet the whole time and then they do something and then they get to talking. So if you're gonna talk, man, you gotta you gotta start and finish with it, but you gotta back it up at the same time. So that's something that like

I'm not gonna say it's just a Detroit thing. But you know in Detroit, you you gotta have it with you where you it's gonna be hard to survivee you know, in the football field. Uh so, Yeah, who has been the toughest guy for you to face this year? Yeah? Because you've you've seen really good receivers Justin Jefferson, jama Are, Chase Digs twice, Tyreek kill. I mean the list goes out and I don't know. Man. I said the same thing in college at first, but I really don't know now,

Like you said, I didn't. I feel like I've win against besides Davonte Adams, who I think it's like a great receiver. I didn't win against pretty much every elite receiver in the league. But I feel like one receiver that goes on the radars Mary Cooper. Like a lot of people they say jess and Jefferson, which is y'all right, Jessin Jefferson, Tyreek kill. Uh Mary Cooper. I think Mary Cooper like he liked that when the come of running routes, No Diggs, Gay Davis and one one one person who

I think don't get mentioned too much. It's Tee Higgins, you know, because of Jamar Chase but see Higgins, he liked that, and I think he just uh got a thousand and receiving yards or something like that. Again, he liked that for sure. But I think I went against pretty much every elite receiver. He definitely did what some of those guys say to you after those performances, the guys seek you out after the field, after you guys compete throughout the gamers, that kind of like, hey, after

that whistle blows, y'all go your separate ways. Nah, I mean a lot of them would come come up to me. I'm personally not a guy that just goes looking for receivers, you know, but you know, a lot of them got respect for me. Diggs, he was a little upset the last time we played. I don't know the reason, and but he he walked away like as soon as the game was over with, so we didn't get to really chop it up. But like before the game, we chopped it up. No, we already knew he was gonna go

at it. But yeah, but a lot of those guys they respect me. I remember Chase, Uh, we chopped it up out of the game. We just laughing, joking, but like between the white lines, we just was going at it. You know, we just talking. He broughtly the first like elite receiver when I was like going at it with like as far as like we both were talking back for because I didn't know he was gonna be, you know, talking to you know where he was, but we was going at it for sure. You guys, the New York

has had four players going to the Pro Bowl. Shouldn't be at least five. I'm talking about your guy, d J. Man. I was just by to say that, like it hurt me, you know as much as like that was one of my individual goals. If I could, I would want him to go. You know, he'd been in the league longer than me, man, and he uh the way he approached the game, the mentality that he has, the players that he makes weekend and week out. I would get my

Pro Bowl up for him, you know. Man. He just worked so hard and I just been able to just watch a guy like him bust his tail every week, no matter if his body a little sword from the last game, just just and that when we get back in the building, he back to it. And I feel like he was the biggest Pro Bowl with the snub that was him like he's the definition of that. Man U. Man, it hurt me, you know, saying like he was like an arsenate or it hurt me, man, because I know,

I know he liked that. What do you think this week is gonna be like for him? Going back to Seattle, a Seahawks team that he played with and experienced his career breakthrough. It's gonna be personal, you know, I think they let him go or whatever. Um So I think it's gonna be personal because I know if it was me, it's gonna be personal. And I know the type of guy that he is, so he gonna he gonna be up to the challenge. He gonna want to compete, you know,

like he always do. You're a big dude, but he's not the biggest guy. But he's got a lot of fight in him. How much do you appreciate the way he attacks on the outside and why is he able to win on the outside, because most guys, you know this, if they have his body type, they're just throwing him in the slot. Man, he first, he is strong guy. When he's strong too, he got good forward three. He gotta he know what's coming because he studied a lot

of family for it. Man, he got hurt. He got that dog in him, you know, that's what it really takes. He confident and he got the mentality like I was bombed this one. He gave up a pass, he gave up a catch. It was no no explosive catch, but my man ran like a crosser. His man caught the ball. He's talking and he like, do that again? You know

what I mean. I'm like, I'm thinking, like, man, he really got that dog in him, you know, to be able to just say that, because when I give up kids, I'm thinking, like, all right, I can't let that happen again. But he was like do that again, So like not as my mentality, right, but I got it from him, you know what I mean. There's like a whole bunch of stuff that I could not can learn from DJ Man. That's why George's being around him in the building, the

outside of the building, being able to learned from. What do you think about the fans and the way they've gravitated towards you here and they welcomed me with open arms. No, I can't complain, you know, being in a place like New York, I knew it was gonna be a lot of pressure, you know, me having a name sauce, I knew I was gonna have a lot of opportunities, but I also knew it was gonna be a lot of pressure.

But like you know, I gotta just stay where my feet are, you know, stay level headed, you know, keep the main thing, the main thing. But I truly appreciate, you know, the fans to support me, my teammates, you know, just being there for us, cheering us on the whole way. You said at the top three individual goals, one of them check that box. What are the other two? Can

you say? Man? All right? So pro bo Rookie of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year, and are pro I remember getting asked about what my goals were, and I didn't even know like how big each and everyone them was. I knew like defensive rookie year because like I'm a rookie, but I was his name and stuff because I remember I used to just be like watching Jen Rams and He's like, man, I'm this, I'm he liked that. So I just said I wanted defensive rookie

here or pro and pro bo. I knew the probo was because the game would come on but when I really said and just thought about him, like, bro, that's big, like Pro Bowl, Oh pro everybody can't make that, So like show, what do you think about? What do you think about the matchup this week? Ye Wolling on the other side. And then he got Kobe Bryant, who you played with your team with the Cincinnati and it was two great players, two great players. Willing I think he

got like he got six interceptions. You know, he's been doing this thing. Uh, I've been sitting on social media. They wanted us to go at it. I had made a tweet. It was like I didn't want to say his name. But with the pro bo situation, but you know, you're a great player. I feel like the fans Seahawks fans be trying to make it something it's not. And uh, Kobe, that's my dog. You know, we locked in forever. No, Um, I don't really be doing jersey swaps, but I feel

that's gonna be. He's gonna be somebody out do with jersey. That's gonna that's gonna happen every week. And another great receivers. You could see two this week if the Lockett's back in the lineup. But have you thought about potentially lining up a few times against DK mcalf Oh, yeah, definitely. Man here, great fiscal receiver. You know, his body type is kind of like different. You know, he ain't the ever sized receiver. No, no, I'm looking forward to it.

I've been watching take You make a lot of play. You know, you're very strong, speed, you got speed, runger routes. I'm looking forward to it though. How cool is this that you guys still have a possibility here. I mean, you've lost four in a row. Nobody's happy about that, but there are two games remaining. You win those two games and the Patriots lose or taie one, the Jets are in the playoffs. And saw his Gardner's rookie season

and that's big. Um Cosalo always talked to us about, like, like I said, men were you are, you know, taking them one day at a time, one week at a time. So that's all I can really do. You know, the defense, we just keep chopping wood every day, man, trying to get better and better watching the film. You know, like I said, taking them one week at a time. We're trying not to get to ahead of ourselves. Amazon Prime had the game last week. Judge Jack Wars. Richard Sherman's

part of that broadcast team. Do you have an opportunity to chop it up with him at all? Yeah, we definitely chopped it up. Man. We're just talking a little bit of ball before the game, joking a little bit. You know, you're you're a funny guy. But at the same time, he was a great player when he was playing.

You know, I'll still be watching this tape my coach right now because older I believe he coach Sharon for like a year, so he'd be sending me tape a sharm, you know, some good things to do in the run, game, pass game, hot point the ball, doing a lot of things. So now I still definitely watch him. What do you like about SHRM's film, Man, He just he knew it was coming before before man, you know what I mean?

That was one thing I've seen, like, especially if he was playing off coverage by certain splits, he knew where I was coming. He knew about to anticipate, you know, about the dn D. He knew what concepts to expect, you know. So those was the main things I was like, Damn, how do you know that coach? Like? Man, he was just he made love. He told me he made love to the family. So, uh, you know, I probed myself and doing the same thing. That's cool about the ral Rievers.

He's said, se my finals for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and he spent time with you guys this year. What was it like? The interaction was reef man. It was crazy man, right. He was a guy used to go on YouTube type his name in and see him shooting guys down. Before I even started playing corner, Like there's an always playing receivers. I used to see, like, Hey, what am I going to expect when I get to in the NFL because I thought I was gonna be a receiver. But I always had the mental I was

gonna go to the league. I was thought was saying, Yeah, he's strong, but he ain't gonna be able to guard me. You know what I mean. Well, he was a great, great guy, extremely humble. Like I said, he him and him and Sharon had that similarity. You know, they watched a lot of tape and they knew it was coming. Like, um, I forgot who it was, but it was it was a coach for the Jaguars or a guy that worked

for the Jaguars, and I guess he coached Sherman. He told me like Sharm knew everything that was coming before it him happened, like even to walk through, if one of the Scott receivers wouldn't at the right split and ran a certain route, he was stopping and tell him to get where they gotta be, you know, because he

wanted to get the look. He was saying, like even to walk through, he wasn't allowing them to catch no passes, So you know he took He took a lot of pride in that, but it was it was great to be able to spend a lot of time with him man and just watch what he did. Hey making that transition to the pros. Obviously you still play a lot of man, but you probably have played more zone this year then since he asked you to do last year.

How have you been able to just really well? But it's that because I think probably a doubter would come out and say, yeah, Gardeners, really good man proceeded. Is he gonna thrive in those zone situations? And you've shown the ability to do that. You're natural and both um I had to get thanks to my coach course owner. You know him just being able to help teach me how to play certain techniques, help teach me the scheme here.

You know. That's the main reason, because like in the All season, I could have went anywhere else and worked on some man off Man and some prison man. But I stayed here and was getting worked you know, So that way I could adapt to the scheme, and that's why I'm able to do it at high level. Favorite video game right now. I gotta say, call the Duty wors on top five characters, Call of Duty All Time characters.

I don't know what you mean by characters. Um as far as Call of Duty, who would you want to be? I mean like the operators that you can play with. Okay, so Snoop Dogg was in there. I don't know too many operators, but you got you got Snoop Dogg. He was cool. He had I think he had like a leather jacket on a little top hat on his head. It was nice. It was nice for sure. Uh. It's a skin called a road skin, so like it's like all black so you can't really see. You can have

in the corners if you have to. Uh, I like the ghost skin. Uh. I don't know too many other ones. Okay, I don't know too many others, but we're going home and play tonight. Oh yeah, definitely hop on there tonight. Twitch. I don't know if I'm being on Twitter day, probably tomorrow. I love doing that though. Man never to interact with the fans, you know, that's great. Hey, I really appreciate you coming up to the studio, Jack, They appreciate you. Garden.

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in here inside the studio. Well, you know when he's represented for they, you know the city of Gooms, you know quite quite well, right, Um, he comes from a historical high school, high school that gets a lot of respect out of Detroit. Brandon Netwich went there for a brief moment, you know, Anthony Adams, a k A. Spice Adams went there and because of his emergence, he's kind of one up my my high school that comes from

Will Goosen and Jonathan Hankins. So we we need somebody else in my high school to kind of come up in the ranks so we can kind of square it even. Are you surprised how quickly he's made This transition appears seamless. The guy leads all defensive backs everybody in the National Football League in p d s and sometimes teams aren't even targeting him. Now he's getting the Reeva's treatment. I mean, he's getting a lot of respect. Early on. He's earned it,

right because of his length and its competitive nature. Right, Like I said all the time was Bill, it lasts long, and it was born, and you know he has a competitive nature. He comes from a place in Detroit. And I'm not just kind of throwing Detroit out there, but let me explain to our our viewers how a football game in high school or PEV League is played in the cit of Detroit. You know, it's surrounded by all the alumni that went there before. I don't care if

you went to the pros or you didn't. I mean I watched Gilbert Brown, Jerome business and guys come back and like put money on little league games, or bet for little league games, or stack the deck when it's time for cap time. People take that personal because it's not only it's like it's a territorial thing, right, It's like, hey, we're from this part of Detroit. We're better than this side, you know. So like I laugh all the time when I go back to Detroit. You know, my mother is

at the picnic class of six sixty nine. I don't know which which year it is, well six, and you just told me in the back of my m here at sixty nine, right, and then I'm class and then it's like so it's like that type of right, it's almost, um, it's like a territorial thing. Right. So it's like it's competitive because you have everybody that's been there before showing up for these games, whether they come back to Detroit

or not. And it's real tense. It's almost like basketball where the trash talking is at a whole new level. That's why every person that anybody kind of recognized or no from Detroit, whether's basketball, football, they talked too much. It's not just that it's it's a Detroit thing because that's kind of how we grow up. We grew up in the pressure cooker where we're gonna tell you what we're gonna do, and we're gonna do it. So the fact that he was talking, he was yapping, he already

knew the truth is the truth. So he already knew that he was the truth. So he didn't mind having a confidence being bolt enough to tell you because when you talk like that, you have to you have to back it up. But if you're able to back it up, your name rise to the top. Like cream early because they said he said it, and he did it right.

So I wasn't surprised with his competitive nature because also like most guys from the Troy, whether Antonio Gates, Larry Foot, you know what happens is Jerome Vennis, right, whoever what happens is he was overlooked. So he has that mentality, that attitude. But he was shunned because, whether he'll tell you it or not, nobody first choices the University of Cincinnati to play football. He went there with something to prove,

and he made it out of University of Cincinnati. But he couldn't wait for the opportunity to prove to everybody else that he was worthy to be at Alabama, he was worthy to be at l S, U. Clinton and all those places, and that he wants to remind them that they chose wrong. That's what is all about. So how much do you love the style and the swagger that he brings to the table. Hey man, if you give them some protein shakes, and you know what I'm saying,

you found them up a little bit. You get the same type of rhetoric that you heard from me, the same rhetoric that you heard from Chris Jenkins. Right, Remember Chris Jenkins, big man talked too much, crazy all over the place. It's just it's just how we are built in Detroit. We don't mind being bold and braggadocious, loquacious. Speaking about bold and braggadocious and loquacious. I'll never forget. I use all my college words too. That's all I got.

I got no more left never. Yeah, of course, because you didn't go to the University of Michigan or Michigan State. Hey listen, I'll never forget Floyd Mayweather, who's got some Michigan roots himself from the state of David Harry, David Hare's the only one from Detroit, by the way that no, don't talk. It doesn't talk. That's right. So Floyd comes here. You guys are having a practice, and after the practice, uh, the guys in the locker room are literally having a

conversation saying who could take Floyd? And Chris Jenkins was so mad because people were making an argument saying, hey, listen, if Floyd stood up, he'd take care of you. Chris Jenkins saying, listen, dude, I crushed them with one hand. He's like, I'm three eighty and I have two and a half abs and whatever. He hit me with them, but baby knuckles ain't gonna hurt me and he problems. Right, They have weight classes for a reason. I agree with that. Hey, uh,

let's touch upon a couple of things here. Let's go across the way and talk about DJ Reid. How disappointed were you because you've been talking about DJ reads throughout the season, not just for a Pro Bowl case, but for an all pro case, all pro case. How disappointed were you that DJ Reid did not get that Pro Bowl invitement? I mean extremely disappointed, But you know I've seen this movie before. He's new to the conference, meaning that he's fresh to the a f C coming from

the NFC, so the name recognition isn't strong. He's playing at a high level, but the team isn't in first or second place, so the eyes aren't on him like they should be. Sauce has a fucking nickname you can't man with a lot of a lot of hype, and he's lived up to the hype and maybe exceeded the hype. But DJ isn't a self promoter. He's a quiet guy, so a lot of times that won't get the eyes on you write him talking about what he did too. I think Justin Jefferson was probably the first time we've

heard him speak and pound his chest about himself. Um. With that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if the voters voted him second team a first team All Pro, which is way more important than you talked about Pro Bowls. Pro Bowls are is a popularity contest. And just so people out there that's listening to this podcast understand, players routinely vote for people that they know isn't gonna make it because they want their guy to make it. So

you can't really take the players vote seriously. That's why it comes down to the fans. The fans vote is more about a popularity contest, the only one that should be somewhat true. And I would be surprised if coaches don't do this to a certain extent as well, try to screw it so it can come to their guys. So it's an it's an unfair system, and it's not really based on facts and performance. It's based on renton

name recognition. Example and exhibit A and B is the fact that Marlon Humphreys has played well not Pro Bowl caliber, that secondary is given up extreme high numbers in the past game you talked about giving up to twenty one point lead to UH Miami early in the game. They're giving up some ha some nasty games where they struggled as a pass defense. Right. And also, Damon Howard would be the first one to tell you that he was more shock than anybody that he was a Pro bowler

this year. Those are spot that you know, I would be you know that I would suggest that DJ Reid should have been in because those two guys didn't live up to the expectation. Now you think about Sauce, you think about Patrick Certain. They're well deserving because Patricks Certain and that defense is amazing out there in Denver, especially with the circumstances of Russell Wilson playing like he's played this year. We're not gonna talk about the Broncos. We

we don't need any call in that Christmas stocking. I love it when you take us inside the locker room though, and really are forth comment about the way it works and and turn and this example you're saying, hey, listen, probo voting, sometimes they vote for the worst guy out there because they want their teammate to make the Pro Bowl, all right, So that makes a lot of sense. Speaking of Christmas, A lot of presents under the Jets tree this weekend. They get handled by Jacksonville at home, and

it looked bleak their playoff chances. What do you think about the postseason possibilities now? After Miami loses to the Packers, New England loses the Cincinnati. We know that Tennessee is not gonna impact the Jets, but Cleveland lost. You have tie breakers over Pittsburgh. You don't have to worry about them. Um, the Las Vegas Raiders are not gonna make a miraculous

run right now. If the Jets win their final two games Mats at all at Miami and the Patriots lose or tie wants to either Miami or the Bills, the Jets make the postseason. Yeah, I mean, and you talk about backing your way into the postseason. At some point, the Jets are gonna have to handle their business. Good news on the front. Mike White is clear he's gonna have an opportunity to play, and then the Jets should

be excited because this is the second lease on life. Right, and you talk about and you know, I'm familiar with this scenario two Atlanta right, two thousand nine. You know Atlanta Los to Atlanta, tough last second play. We thought we were done and it turned out that, hey, we had another opportunity. Now the Jets are gonna have to figure out, you know, how do they take care of

their business? And you know some things that can serve me a little bit in the show their their youth was Guy's coming with Gritch outfits on guys coming with Bunny outfits on data. That just let me know that they didn't have the experience even though his Zama had been in the playoffs the week before. But you have to understand it is a totally different level when you're trying to go to the playoffs. The Jets have essentially been in the playoffs the last three weeks and they

haven't had they had the opportunity to to win. I bet you this week it's going to be more focused. It's gotta be focused, it's gotta be everything you've got. Understand that the holidays in New Year's here, that means absolutely nothing. Because you guys made a commitment to yourself early earlier this year to be able to have an opportunity to shock the world, to be ahead of as head of schedule, and you have to push all that aside.

I don't want to see any smiles on faces. I want to see guys coming in business workman like piste off with the opportunity to say, listen, that team over there in Seattle has something that not only we want, but we need. And I will not leave this place without what I came for. And that's a w that's the lie that you have to have the entire week. Yeah, I love your energy. You must have got a lot of sleep Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Listen, what's gotta

cheat offensively? Though? For the Jets, we know Mike White is gonna return to the lineup. He will start against the Seattle Seahawks. But it's more than just a quarterback, correct, So tell me what you're seeing by watching the Jets. The last couple of weeks, you even can go back. White moved the football, but the Jets scored one offensive

touchdown in Minnesota and one offensive touchdown in Buffalo. Well, in the absence of Mike White, the Jets have been looking for a lot of answers, and one of the answers was trying to put Straveler up. And I believe that gives him a unique ability to play situational football, and also it takes more time for other teams to have to prepare for a wildcat type of package, and you can telle you to grow that tasting hill type

of the type of package. It's gonna help you on the goal line, right, it's gonna help you on the goal line, gonna help you in the red zone, it's gonna help you with short yardage. Now you have a situational player much like we have Brad Smith who can ulize that skill set. But still what had the quarterback pedigree? Like you can't you can't expect struggler to play a whole quarter or a whole half, but you expect him

to come in and make defensive be on their hills. Now, the reason why, you know the rest of the team struggles because it was a lack of respect for the football acumen of the quarterback, which men mean that they manned up on the outside and they brought an extra man in the box and the you know, the effects of that means that they you know, the run game

struggle with Mike White there. If they dare to put eight or nine in the box, that creates a lot of one on ones on the outside, and because he's so good at getting the ball out of his hands and having pres not recognition, that should make the running game even better. So the offense should flourish again because now teams are gonna have to play honest and they're gonna have an opportunity, you know what, I mean, to

show up and show up. Secondly, I hope that part of the narrative is that Hey, Sauce is supposed to be the rookie of the Year, but on the other side, it's a young man that has made a case for himself to be Rookie of the Year. I believe his name is Wooling and he's wallin right. So I hope that means that Sauce steps up and leaves no doubt that he's the better player, because he's going against Listen, Locking and metcalf is a handful and they give you

problems in different ways. Ones physically gifted, fast, strong, much like t O, and the other one is fast and quick like a Marvin Harris, with the ability to take the top off the defense. So I think this would be a great opportunity for Sauce to show his versatility and being able to stop guys that are great at the receiver position but have different attributes. What's your take on Gino? Why has he been able to flourish this season? Obviously he gets an opportunity that played his first four

seasons with the Jets. Feels like a lifetime of goal. But his numbers are off the chart. Listen, he's been in the same system. Yeah, low expectations and he inherited a great offensive line right the The Seattle Seahawks outside of the Jets, probably had the best draft outside of the Jets this year when you talk about instant uh productivity from young players. Their right tackle and left tackle are home runs, and they got them in a draft.

They have a great running back, sound familiar. They got a great running back and Kenneth Walker the second from Michigan State. They hit there right. They found every a cornerback that played receiver in college, much like Richard Sherman. So they knew that they, you know, for their system, that type of player would be effective. They hit on that. So you you look at what they've been able to do and the fact that you know, because of the trade they were able to get you know, fat able

to get a good defensive tackle. It plugged up a lot of holes. And now they listen much under like I mean, listen, this is going home, right, this, this is going home. This is where Salad was born. Right, this is when we first started to notice Robert salom Right. Yeah, with Carroll that two exactly. So you talk about this team is gonna be mentally tough. They believe in running the football. It's gonna be mere images of each other, and it's gonna come down and who's gonna be able

to make the plays? Right? Geno Smith has been able to inherit a pretty good football team. And remember he wasn't the guy they thought they believed in Drew Lot because they had scotting him coming out, and they believed in him, and Gino Smith took the job and never let go of it. He may be the long term solution for that team. And they still have a little

bit to fight for now. I know it's still bleak for them, but you know they they're looking at hey, we've gotta win these two games a week for us to have an opportunity to go to the postseason. So you have two teams that are extremely hungry. You have two teams that have to have it, and the Jets are gonna have to be mentally tough to be able to win in this type of environment when you consider the Twelfth Man. But the Jets are proven that they are much better on the road actually than they are

at home. Similar situations. Because both these teams are seven and eight. The Seahawks started six and three, the Jets started seven and four. The Jets are the eight seed in the FC. I believe right now Seattle might be no. Actually, I think Seattle's eight seeds and Jets are the ninth seed regardless. Bottom line is tomatoes two models. Yeah, what do you think about the matchup for the Jets defensively against the Seattle offense. You gotta give Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence,

Doug Peterson a lot of credit. The way they attacked the Jets. I thought they were better on the line of scrimmage. You don't see many teams attacked the Jets and say we're gonna run the ball twenty four times in an opening half the way they did. Seattle is a different offense. But you mentioned Walker before. He can run the football. They do have options. They have options, They have options on the outside. What do you think about the Seattle defense against the Jets, I mean the

Seattle offense against the Jets defense. I mean, I think they're gonna look at that, They're gonna look at that Jacksonville film, and they're gonna try and do the lies. That game plan and what that game plan was was having a lot of man beaters and understanding what the Jets were trying to do, and they just rubbed routing and cross rand crossing routes and got a mixed up with short motion yo yo emotion, using the linebackers and making them change strength. The Jets are gonna have to

have defenses where it can be man and man. But it's where you end up when you talk about I don't like flopping the linebackers because what happens is when they run the ball at you and you're moving and changing strength. Because they change strength, it messes with your eyes. So a simple run it allows you not to be able to see your keys like traditionally you will be

able to see your keys. Because you saw Quincy and you saw and you saw c J flopping as motion was coming left the right, and also Carter left and right, and you know a lot of pick plays a lot of you know, um plays that kind of forced them to kind of communicate post snap and pre snap. So I expect Seattle to do much of the same because they have a tight end that can move around and

that can catch you know, the ball in space. When you think about North Fan and meanwhile on the outside, you're gonna have your hands full with the two outside guys. So they you know, Lock is a guy that moves around. You know he's he's a burner. So they're gonna have

to make sure that they create a scheme. I would like to see them have a scheme with more hole droppers, bit up a cover three where they're inverting their safeties so they can help some guys if somebody runs by somebody and they can replace if they're running guys horizontally and trying to pick guys off. If you insert or safety in there, he can make somebody right. Mike White, he gets the rock. Joe Flacco is gonna be the backup quarterback on Sunday. You want a package in there

for Straveler. Perhaps that helps the Jets inside the red zone because you refer to it, and again he can create some more space for you where that field shrinks inside the red zone. What would you say in terms of the opportunity that Mike White has in front of him, not only regular season eyes, but just looking at his career, what potentially could be. Well, he's a he's a free agent. So if he's able to manufacture, you know, great offense

and also lead his team to the playoffs. And he's saying, Hey, I'm I'm a potential starter out here. You know, I'm not just some backup, some journeyman. You know, it maybe took me a while to figure it out, but listen, I could be a starter for you. And there's a lot of teams out there that are in need a big quarterback. So all he needs is two teams to be able to force suggest to have to make a tough decision, and have to be able to reward him with a long term contract. I imagine it's gonna be

wearing something to protect the ribs. Does that have any impact on you? You've probably never worn that before, but you know guys who have. Well, he's just he's just gotta be smarter, right, you know, I understand that. I appreciate the fact that he's willing to stand in the pocket to to to deliver the football. But it still weighs to be able to take care of yourself, to be able to chuck and duck what we call it.

We've seen paid Manny time Brady do it. He has to understand sometimes he just has to throw the ball away and he doesn't have to stay in that pocket and take the type of punishment. But with that being said, they're gonna have to, I think, really do some unique type of blocking. I think a lot of term protection so that if anything happens, the pressure is coming from the outside and not up the middle, where you know,

the impact of a blow is a lot harder. And you know, if I'm him too, I'm selling I'm acting like Robert, I'm acting like man in Genobli. Somebody hit me. I'm calling out flopping like a fish. We saw Mac and Cheese do it early in the first match up. I don't know what I'm saying is you want to flop like a fish. Somebody hit you? A touch of you, you you you gotta you gotta over embellish, don't be

super tough, because remember we just watched Phillips. You know, get it, get a yesterday, get a personal file for shoving Um Aaron Rodgers right to make sure that they call it the right way, you know what I mean. If everybody else is used and you're a line, you shouldn't do it too. Sometimes a part of the job. This is not a World Cup recap, but Bart says, hey, ballishing might be part of the National Football League A little bit on. Yeah, exactly, I mean, that's that's what

it is. So either you know when the Roman do with the Romans due, So you gotta flap like a fish, you know what I'm saying. I like, you chan't move for a little bit going to blue tent, you know, let him know, Hey, he's hit my guy late. I bet you, Hey, let's sign here because you've got a lot of family activities to take care of. Um, what do you think about c? J? Mosley said after the game against the Jaguars that we didn't match her intensity.

It's a two parter because I'm looking ahead. These final two games start with Seattle. The Miami game doesn't matter unless you beat the Seahawks. We know that. Do you think just White's insertion back into the lineup should give the Jets a spark going into this game? And do you anticipate that they'll come out you know, it's more fire because I hate when people say you you've been in the locker room before and you've lost games, and people will say, well, you guys flat, And I think

sometimes we use that term too much. But what did you say? I think CJS using the turn flat as well, because I mean you talk about early in the possession being able to get a turnover inside of Jacksonville's territory and how deflating it was to kick a field goal to lose Sharks, right, And I think you know, sometimes you see like, oh, it's gonna be one of those days. Right, you know, you've been waiting for a turnover, you're able to get to turn over, and it's by your defensive

leader that just got back. Nobody came out flat. What happened is the glame plan for Jacksonville cause hesitation, right, And sometimes when you're in the fight, you're in the game, you can't understand what's happening to you. I can see it playing this day because I'm from the outside looking in.

I'm watching it as a TV analyst, see, but they're so close to it, and sometimes the coordinated is so close to it, it's hard to make those adjustments, you know, how to figure out when do I insert a whole

player there? To insert the whole player would have helped them out a lot and put the pressure on the outside guys, because even when Trevor Lawrence kind of took off, it would have gave them an extra low defender so they can have eyes on them and also have one guy on both sides of the center so that he couldn't utilize and hurt them like he did with his legs,

you know, So it wasn't that they were flat. Sometimes the other team on the short week just has a better game plan, and it's really tough to adjust on the fly, especially when you haven't had a whole week of preparation as a staff and as a team to kind of really get in on what they do and say, okay, well this is what they're doing today, this is how

we have to play. And sometimes you gotta throw the entire game plan out and say, you know what, we're gonna play matchup zone and we're not gonna let them dictate to us. You know, short story, you know, uh Kaughlin and whenever we played the Giants, when we were with Rex used to do that all the time, especially

when I was with Baltimore. They were yo your motion to get you to get your line into shift because they knew once the once the tight end came off, that means that we have a check and we alert change the strength and our linement would go. So they would short motion to the center and then our linement will move and then they'll hurry up and yo your emotion and snapped the ball and you get guys basically blocking themselves because they put themselves behind to the other side.

But it's not it's not really a shift. So we had to start calling stuff that didn't was affected by yo yo emotion or short motion. And that's how we have to play certain teams. But you have to have the experience with each other to understand that. And because this group is young, because this group has a lot of free agents that just did this right, they don't understand, you know, how how to adjust on the fly because

they don't have a collective experience. And a couple of years, teams can do everything and they're being seen everything, and then they'll be able to just do it on the fly. Remember we did this like this when this team did this, and they'll be able to tell each other. Okay, it's one of those games we're gonna pull out our old game plan. You know. That's why the goat is to go, because no matter what you throw at he was like, Man, the Ravens did this to me in two thousand two,

I've seen this before. Or the Bears did this in two thousand five, you know what I mean. Or the Fountains did this when we played them in the Super Bowl. And that's kind of you know, like I said, vesteans are veterans, not because they've never made mistakes. It's because they've seen everything and they've learned from those mistakes, so they anticipate what's gonna happen. That speaks in the importance of continuity, and hopefully the Jets are gonna have that

as we move ahead with this young talented roster. Do you anticipate a one score game Sunday? You No, Nope, because I expect body blows and then I expect explosion. Right. I expected to show off with like start to like a fill out process. But I guarantee both teams gonna have some tricks up their bag. Understanding, you know, kind of how both teams and philosophy believe that they're gonna use their knowledge against them. All right, alright, someone you

gotta come out on top up. But maybe it's my knockout. That's what the mad backers saying. Hey, enjoy your day with your family and say say hello to your mom for us. We'll do yeah,