Colts CB Sauce Gardner vows response after embarrassing film review: 'That's not me'

· Yahoo Sports

INDIANAPOLIS – Coming off what you could argue was the worst statistical performance of his NFL career, Colts All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner faced an ever-growing number of reporters at his locker Wednesday afternoon.

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Gardner wanted to talk about the failures – just not the ones most may have noticed.

“I’m more disappointed, watching the tape, just looking at my effort,” Gardner said unprompted. “It’s embarrassing, as a corner. They’re running with the ball and I wasn’t giving my best effort. I’ve got to be better.

“That was the most disappointing thing to me, myself just not having that effort in the run game when the ball’s on the other side. You ain’t got to worry about seeing that ever again. That was unacceptable.”

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The biting self-reflection came in a game where Gardner gave up four catches on five targets for a career-high 117 yards when he was the nearest defender in coverage, according to Next Gen Stats. Included was a 48-yard chunk play that pushed the Commanders well into scoring range, as well as a 47-yard touchdown strike from third-string rookie quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis.

According to Next Gen Stats, Gardner surrendered a perfect 158.3 passer rating when targeted – just the third such game of his five-year career. But those two 40-plus-yarders could be explained away by mistakes in Gardner’s mechanics, poor communication and moves by rookie safety A.J. Haulcy or the Commanders stumbling into a successful play almost by accident.

“I’ve gotta be better on those (plays) as well, but my main thing is the effort. I’m not perfect. Guys are gonna make plays every now and then,” Gardner said. “But my main thing is the effort on that touchdown they had called back and on another play where the ball’s on the other side.”

The first play in question – what was nearly an 87-yard touchdown bomb from Kaliakmanis to rookie wideout Antonio Williams – came on a third-and-long in the third quarter with the Colts leading 20-13. Gardner dropped back into zone coverage with three Commanders receivers stacked up on the opposite side of the field. Williams trailed his fellow receivers, dropped into an opening just a couple yards past the line of scrimmage and caught an easy pass with no defenders within 10 yards of him.

Gardner was standing around the center of the field near the 27. Colts defensive tackle Adetomiwa Adebawore – who had been in pursuit of Kaliakmanis -- stood at the 9-yard line when the ball reached Williams’ hands. Williams turned up the field and the sideline official near the line of scrimmage threw a flag around the 13-yard line.

Williams ran straight toward Colts safety Camryn Bynum and cornerback Charvarius Ward, reaching them just shy of the 30-yard line, as Gardner nonchalantly jogged toward Williams. Unexpectedly, Williams broke through both Colts defenders by the 34-yard line with nothing but open field ahead of him and not Gardner – now maybe five yards trailing Williams – in pursuit.

Remember when the defensive tackle was nearly 20 yards behind the action? The 6-foot-2, 282-pounder is now streaking by his 6-foot-3, 190-pound teammate. Only for a brief moment does it appear Gardner approaches anything close to a dead sprint but by that point, Adebawore is more than five yards ahead, with Williams just out of arm’s reach. At the point where the Colts lineman dives for Williams’ feet – and misses – Gardner is now 10 yards back and slowing.

Williams then jogs into the end zone for what he believes – even for a brief moment – is a game-tying score.

“I saw the flag get thrown but they could’ve picked the flag up and then what?” Gardner said, referencing the reason why in the moment, he largely jogged around the field and let a teammate with 90 pounds on him leave him in the dust. “There’s nothing I could say, no matter what. I’ve got to make sure I’m running to the ball.

“Man, I can’t tell you why. That’s not me, so it’s not something I really have an answer for. I just know that will never happen again. It’s just an embarrassing watch, you know, because you look back at the tape, and that effort when the ball’s on the other side is an embarrassing watch and an embarrassing feeling.”

Gardner was asked if the fact Adebawore was the one who streaked past him drove the point home. For what it’s worth, the fourth-year defensive tackle ran a 4.49 40-time at the 2023 NFL Combine, creating national headlines as the fastest time ever run by an NFL prospect weighing 270 pounds or more. The year prior, Gardner, the fourth-overall pick in 2022, ran a 4.41.

“I’m seeing other guys on the defensive line running past me, that’s the part that’s like, ‘Yo, that’s crazy,’” Gardner said. “Where, if I’m running and (Adebawore) is like, ‘Nah, I can’t,’ we can laugh and joke about it.

“But if I’m loafing and I’m seeing him slide past me, man, that’s embarrassing, and that’s unacceptable.”

Gardner also referenced a play that caught his eye for all the wrong reasons in film study, believed to be a third-and-6 on the Commanders’ second drive of the game while just past midfield. There, Gardner watched Washington running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt catch a ball out of the backfield at the line of scrimmage.

Close to 15 yards downfield, Gardner has his back to the action while in coverage, but he turned and saw the running back sprinting down the sideline away from Colts linebacker Jaylon Carlies, who dove for Croskey-Merritt’s legs as he was tip-toeing the sidelines. Gardner is only a few yards ahead downfield but 10 yards closer to the middle of the field.

But he’s the closest upright Colt to the play.

“I assumed he was getting tackled and then he was still upright,” Gardner said.

Croskey-Merritt would sprint more than 20 yards more down the sideline before he was tackled by linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither at the 7-yard line. Once the ball is in the Commanders running back’s hands, Gardner never broke out of a jog, first thinking someone else had him wrapped up and when noticing he was no longer the closest Colt in pursuit.

“I owe it to not only the defense, but the whole team. Think about the offensive line. If they’re in the two-minute drill, they’re back on the ball, they’re running to the ball, all that,” Gardner said. “We get coached, but (effort) is something that’s a choice.”

Then Gardner paused.

“Yeah, I’ve still got a crazy feeling, just think about it and that’s why I’m ready to go practice and get to work on those habits.”

Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts CB Sauce Gardner vows response after embarrassing film review: 'That's not me'

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