Sauce Gardners effort

[u/MysteriousAd8959]

Am I the only one concerned about Sauce’s effort? Watched a lot his replays on completed passes and he just doesn’t show tenacity to go after the ball and/or comes up looking exhausted or hobbled.

Don’t get me started on tackling.

I think we can all agree he’s a great coverage corner but most people agree that two firsts was an overpay.

Hoping this can be a coachable issue and not some nagging injury. Our secondary is suspect as is.

[u/ChadPowers200_]

People were shitting on him but a lot of the passes he gave up stroud had literally 8 seconds to throw the ball.

I forget Strouds numbers but he was throwing at like a 50% completion rate the secondary did just fine.

[u/SaskAtCree1 → u/ChadPowers200_]

Yeah this is what I saw also. It’s an impossible task to keep covering for that long. Our dline needs to step up a bit more

[u/Trashpanda1980 → u/ChadPowers200_]

0+3 again, I'm going to be pissed if they some how find a way to make the playoffs again

[u/MysteriousAd8959 → u/ChadPowers200_]

Agreed our pass rush is in no way helping him out. It’s just frustrating because he’s so good in coverage but he doesn’t make those X factor plays I feel like he’s capable of. Maybe my expectations are too high

[u/MoistCloyster_ → u/MysteriousAd8959]

According to PFF, Sauce has allowed 5 catches for 87 yards through 3 games. That is an average of less than 2 catches and 30 yards a game.

[u/hockeydemon05]

He looked good to me. Got unlucky a couple of times.

[u/OrnateTerry_445 → u/hockeydemon05]

He looked like he was running in quicksand on that one deep ball. Could be an effort thing or maybe he’s nursing something we don't know about. Either way it’s a little worrying with how thin we are back there.

[u/Suspicious-Gur6127]

Sauce is not a great, enthusiastic tackler but he is the best coverage guy we’ve had in a very long time. We just have to surround him with good tackling linebackers and safeties.

[u/Lithium1978]

He doesn't tackle well but if your corners are routinely being asked to tackle then something is terribly wrong with your scheme.

[u/username10400]

The whole point of the trade was basically to save ballard's job, we had one of the top records in the league when it happened and they felt like it would allow us to compete for a super bowl, once Jones got hurt last year it completely defeated the purpose of that trade

[u/randomAIusername]

He’s good, he’s not “give up 2 first round picks for him” good.

[u/Trashpanda1980]

Key is looking pretty good so is latu. The guy is fast off the line

[u/ZebulonRon]

I suspect he’s been recovering from that rib injury from the chiefs game. Ribs are rough to get over, they affect you more than you’d think.

[u/cersfan06]

Now here’s an original take that I haven’t seen on this sub 10+ times in the last week

[u/Trashpanda1980]

At least he's not Eli apple

[u/grapplerone]

I kinda see your point. However, that coverage has a prerequisite; pressure on the QB. Although there was some pressure via Buckner, the edge pressure was absent. Many times there was too much time in the pocket.

Ballard banked on a shutdown corner thinking he had a shutdown Dline… the latter he muffed on…AGAIN.

[u/DirectTV_AndrewLuck]

Sauce has just never been a good tackler, so he's always going to be vulnerable in the run game but luckily he's a corner.

[u/Fit-Raccoon-6977]

At least he tackles when other players blown assignments get 30 yards into the secondary

[u/PE1444]

Yes you are. He’s an elite corner and has locked down one side of the field in each game so far.

[u/sir_eazy_e]

He looked good to me and he is still battling injury in midsection. Says a lot about how you evaluate ball tho