Losing to the same team 15 times in a row will leave any team feeling like they were dealt a low blow. For Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner, it may have literally happened.
Gardner claimed after the game that Patriots quarterback Mac Jones intentionally hit him below the belt during the second half of New York’s 15-10 loss, dropping the Jets to 1-2 and continuing their streak of futility against New England. The incident occurred after Jones ran a quarterback sneak as he was getting up from the ground.
“He had got tackled,” Gardner explained, via NJ.com. “He reached his hand up to try to like get me to help him up. And I just like moved his hand out the way. Then, he gets up, he just comes up to me like, ‘Good job.’ But while he’s saying that he hit me in my — he hit me in my private parts. You know what I’m saying?
“So I didn’t really react how I wanted to. That was just the reaction that came after that. I definitely wasn’t expecting that. First time for everything.”
Gardner added he had to “ice up” following the hit and said, “He’s trying to prevent me from having kids in the future.”
Jones shared his side of the story, saying he was just trying to get the first down.
Via NJ.com:
“Um, no. I think just trying to get the first down,” Jones said. “Third and one. And then we came back on fourth and one. And then tried to fake it so, um, definitely a physical play. A lot of guys are in there. It is kind of like famous quarterback sneak that everybody does. All of the guys on both teams are in there so It can get pretty physical. That’s something I have to learn from is getting my pads a little bit lower so I can get it and not get held up.”
The Jets have to wait a while before getting another chance to finally deliver a knockout blow to their long losing streak to the Patriots. The Jets and Patriots will close the season against each other in Foxborough in Week 18. Hopefully, no family jewels will be crushed then.