It was a frustrating day all around for the New York Jets Sunday evening in Arlington, Texas.
A 30-10 blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys had several players frustrated with the level of play the team produced in the national setting. The defense struggled to get off the field on third down, and the offense mustered a measly 10 points. Both sides of the ball played poorly, and it was just a microcosm of why the team is currently 1-1 on the year.
Some players took their frustration out of the locker room though.
After several Twitter trolls pulled up a fake stat about Sauce Gardner’s performance against CeeDee Lamb on Sunday, the All-Pro cornerback chimed back with a statement of his own.
“Damn y’all really love saying my name on this app lol. He didn’t catch a ball on me today. Source: Me,” Gardner said as a response. Shortly after, the comment by the cornerback was deleted. He also appeared to delete his entire social media account.
Lamb had a monster game on Sunday. The Cowboys wideout recorded 11 catches for 143 yards while torching New York all over the field. According to NextGenStats, the Cowboys targeted Gardner four times but for only 18 yards. Gardner was credited with giving up a touchdown in the second quarter. He also had a dropped interception that would’ve been returned for a touchdown to only add to the frustration.
The Jets’ top corner did not travel to face Lamb throughout the game though, and that was something he mentioned following the game.
Gardner wasn’t the only one frustrated though for the Jets from the 2022 class.
After receiving just four rushing attempts on Sunday, Breece Hall made it clear that he wanted more touches but understood why the Jets went away from the ground game late.
“I only got four touches. That’s why we struggled,” Hall said to Zack Rosenblatt of the Athletic. “It is what it is. We just got down early today and just abandoned the run…That type of stuff happens, you feel like you’ve gotta get back in the game and it just slips away.”
Hall later went on Twitter and tweeted out four football emojis – representing the four touches he received during the game, but like Gardner, quickly deleted it.
Hall’s comments about the offensive game plan are an important update for the team that has vowed to bring the young star back from his ACL recovery slowly. Hall averaged over 10 yards a touch in Monday night’s win over the Bills but only received 15 total targets.
It’s the first public comments of players on the Jets voicing their frustration following an outcome of a game. It’s not the first in recent years though. Last season, Garrett Wilson and Elijah Moore both complained about a lack of targets in the passing game. Moore was traded during the offseason to Cleveland.
It certainly appears that Hall feels he is more than ready to get a larger workload in the offense next week when the Jets take on the Patriots at MetLife Stadium next Sunday.
