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When Matt Patricia specifically brought up Jets rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner before last game, it felt like a sign that the Patriots weren’t going to test the No. 4 overall pick too much in their first meeting together.
That provided true: New England targeted Gardner just three times in Week 8, which tied for the fewest number of targets he’s seen all season. The results: two catches for -4 yards and one rep he strapped up Jakobi Meyers on a red-zone wheel route.
Some might say avoiding Gardner is too much respect to give a rookie. The numbers disagree.
While the Patriots’ own rookie cornerback Jack Jones (90.4) continues to have the highest overall coverage grade in the league according to Pro Football Focus, Gardner isn’t far behind at fourth overall (87.8), sitting just behind Denver Broncos star Patrick Surtain II.
Gardner has allowed a lower catch rate than any other cornerback with 95 or more coverage snaps at just 43.5 percent, leads the NFL in pass breakups with 10 and has two interceptions to his name . Only Jaycee Horn and James Bradberry have a lower passer rating allowed than Gardner’s 44.6 as well.
Want to go even further? He grades out as the league’s best corner in man coverage as well (90.3).
The trick is, of course, that his counterpart D.J. Reed isn’t a slouch, either. Reed boasted a top-10 coverage grade for the season himself and has six pass breakups and a pick, too. Between the two of them, the Jets have the field pretty well locked down outside the numbers.
But if you’re picking one to go at, you probably want it to be Reed, especially if the Patriots are facing man coverage. (Reed has been decent in man but much better in zone coverage.)
TL;DR: Gardner already looks like a true lockdown cornerback that the Patriots are right to be worried about. If they want to get through Sunday’s game without any back-breaking turnovers, they should probably do what they did a few weeks ago and stay as far away from Sauce as they can.
