The joint practice between the Jets and Commanders ended with a two-minute drill.
On a fourth down during the drill, Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels thought he had wide receiver Terry McLaurin wide open along the sideline and threw a strike in his direction for what would have been a first down … if the long arm of Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner did not get in the way.
Gardner was in the wrong coverage on the play, realized there had to be someone behind him and began backpedaling, then leapt to knock down Daniels’ pass and end the drive for Washington.
“He’s going to be nice,” Gardner said of Daniels. “I was just talking to him down there. He was like, ‘I would have been able to get that throw over anybody but you.’ ”
That is a feeling that has become familiar for quarterbacks who go against the Jets.
Gardner has become one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL in his first two years, and there is no reason to think that rise won’t continue in Year 3.
The thing the Jets coaches now want to see from Gardner is not just pass breakups, but interceptions.
Gardner had no interceptions last season after notching just two as a rookie.
“The challenge: catch the ball,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said of the next step for Gardner. “He had a lot of opportunities last year, and I think he’s up for that challenge.”
When asked Thursday about the lack of interceptions last season, Gardner said he believes he could have easily had three or four picks.
The most memorable missed chance came in Dallas when a Dak Prescott pass hit Gardner in the hands, but he dropped what looked like it would have been a pick-six just before halftime.
Gardner has started to get some of the treatment that Darrelle Revis used to get with teams not going his way, but Gardner said he still had chances last year.
“I don’t really use the ball not coming my way as an excuse,” Gardner said. “If I was to have four picks last season, none of that would matter. If I had four picks, that would be a pretty good year.”
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Gardner said another missed opportunity came against the Texans in December.
He relived that one Thursday.
“It was raining,” Gardner recalled. “It’s so hard when you’re playing man coverage. You don’t have vision on the quarterback. You can’t tell when the ball is released, especially when it’s raining. You just turn and you see a blurry football. I ain’t saying that as an excuse, but it ain’t as easy as everybody thinks. It’s not like we’re just playing catch out there.”
Gardner has not had an interception in training camp, but not many Jets defenders have against quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
There have been three interceptions thrown by Rodgers, all on tipped passes.
“It don’t make it no easier going against Aaron in practice,” Gardner said. “I’m not getting no easy opportunities to pick him off in practice. I’ve just got to do extra work outside of that. Aaron’s not going to give me no 50/50 balls. He’s going to be like, ‘The receiver’s catching the ball or nobody’s catching the ball.’ ”
Gardner said the Jets defenders kid the ones who do get picks off Rodgers, saying they must have good karma.
“If you find a way to pick him off in practice, you’re living right,” Gardner said. “I’m not saying I’m not living right because I think I am living right. My time just hasn’t come.”
The Jets defense has huge expectations entering this season, and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said they need Garnder to close out games for them.
“We spoke about getting the ball, that’s the first one, because as we all know, the best corners in the history of this league were the best at taking the ball, as well, so he’s got to take advantage of those opportunities,” Ulbrich said. “We challenged him to get bigger and stronger, which will help him not only in run defense and tackling, which we know that’s an element of his game, but we know in the fourth quarter, when I got to really finish a game, and I got to have the strength and the endurance and the conditioning to finish, I got to finish. And he’s demonstrating that now. He’s bigger and stronger than he’s ever been. I think he’s had his best offseason since he’s been here, so it’s going to be exciting, as well, to see what that looks like.”
