Sauce Gardner's 105-yard INT return of Aaron Rodgers ends Jets' practice
Jets' Sauce Gardner, front right, participates in a drill at the NFL football team's training facility in Florham Park, N.J., Sunday, July 23, 2023. Credit: AP/Seth Wenig
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Sunday was the last Jets training camp practice open to the public until Aug. 16, and fans got to see plenty of interesting action.
The grand finale came on the final play. After the offense and defense traded successes in two-minute drills, coaches set up a tiebreaker.
The offense got the ball at the 10-yard line with time for one play. “Take it to the red zone and settle it,” coach Robert Saleh said.
Aaron Rodgers, under pressure, threw sidearm into the end zone. Sauce Gardner peeled off his coverage, stepped in front of Corey Davis, intercepted the ball and ran it back about 105 yards, high-fiving a teammate along the way.
Gardner did a celebratory end zone dance while the offense did push-ups.
“It was a really cool teachable moment that it’s never over ’til it’s over,” Saleh said. “Those guys compete where everything matters . . . It’s awesome, because you’d rather have it now than later so you can talk about it.”
Notes & quotes: Saleh said Carl Lawson sat out because of back tightness . . . TE Jeremy Ruckert made a nice diving catch on a pass from Rodgers . . . The Jets signed two LBs to add practice depth: Samuel Eguavoen and Nick Vigil. They released LBs Hamsah Nasirildeen and Maalik Hall . . . Fans greeted injured RB Breece Hall with a “Breeeece” chorus when he walked onto the practice field . . . The team will practice on Tuesday before leaving for South Carolina for joint practices with the Panthers.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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