Coach Sauce Gardner has heard criticism of his tackling this season, including criticism from interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich, who said he had no choice but to tackle cornerbacks before the win against Houston. said, “We need to improve.''
On Thursday, Gardner was asked about how his season with the Jets went past the halfway point.
“I feel like I've had a pretty productive year,” he said. “Obviously the defense is a little different. Teams try to attack us in different ways, like running the ball to my side. We also had a few missed tackles, but that's normal. ”
Overall, however, there's no denying that Gardner's performance has declined in his third year, despite making the Pro Bowl in each of his first two years.
But Gardner defended his play.
“What people don't understand is I had more tackle attempts than I had in years past,” Gardner said. “I feel like I'm doing pretty well in coverage. I'm always trying to get better at everything. That's me.”
Ulbrich said last week that Gardner has shown some improvement in his tackling, including a season-high five tackles against Houston.
His job won't get any easier on Sunday, as the Jets will have to face the Cardinals' Kyler Murray.
Defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton said Thursday that Haason Reddick hasn't put up many numbers since he finally joined the Jets after a long suspension, but his impact is being felt.
Coach Whitecotton said Reddick has been “fantastic” since he took the field.
“Everyone probably expected him to come in here and get 10 sacks in two games,” Whitecotton said. “That's not realistic.”
Whitecotton added that he was impressed with Reddick's attention to not only being a pass rusher but also stopping the run.
“He's the complete player,” Whitecotton said. “And he continues to work every day to become a more complete player and learn our system and scheme every day.”
The run defense as a whole hasn't been bad overall, allowing more rushing touchdowns (11) than all but four teams this season, but has made some “badly timed” mistakes. The cost has been high, Coach Whitecott said. .
“You can't do that in important moments and that's been the case in all 11 games,” Whitecotton said.
Wide receivers coach Sean Jefferson said Malachi Coley, whose touchdown run was overturned when he dropped the ball before reaching the goal line, will be used this week to replace injured Allen Lazard.
Mr. Jefferson is confident that Corey can accomplish the mission, even after making a costly mental mistake.
“He's been working on the details this week in practice,” Jefferson said. “I'm looking forward to watching him play on Sunday.”
Play-calling passing game coordinator Todd Downing said he was disappointed with the offense's initial response to Corey's mistake at the beginning of the second quarter.
Coach Downing said, “I'd like to see them respond a little better offensively.'' “It just kind of took away our energy a little bit. We felt like we were out there celebrating and everyone was celebrating together here and there and then when we got called back or reversed, that… I felt like I lost momentum.”
The unit eventually bounced back and scored all 21 points in the second half.
