How bad are the Jets this season? After eight games into the season, their record stands at 2-6. Their latest loss came against a team that had a 6-game losing streak until they met the Jets. Well, losing to the rebuilding Patriots may have finally put a reality check on everyone’s door in New York. But is it that bad that calls for players to lose their nicknames into the season?

Well, it’s true. Jets CB Sauce Gardner has been called out for his struggles this season. However, not only called out as former defensive lineman Chris Canty wants his nickname removed. Giving his opinion on the UnSports ESPN show, Canty said, “He has no Sauce right now. He’s so dry.” And the former Giants tackle also added that people should now call him Ahmad Gardner instead of Sauce Gardner.

Although it could be pretty harsh for a player to lose his possible identity, Gardner has a massive falloff this season. A cornerback who once won two first-team All-Pro in consecutive seasons is nowhere to be seen after eight games into the season. With a 70.9 coverage grade after the first seven games, Gardner ranks 28th among all the CBs this season. And do you know what makes this statistic worse? Well, his teammate D.J. Reed occupies the No.1 position for his 87.4 coverage grade.

But the Jets CB coach Tony Oden was still full of praise for his cornerback, “He’s still one of the top corners in the NFL. No doubt about it.” And when asked how he has performed over the first seven games, Oden replied, “I think he has done well.” However, Gardner is seemingly struggling to stay away from conceding penalties this season. After recording 48 yards, the Jets CB already has four penalties.

Going back to last year, Gardner only recorded five penalties for 50 yards. So when Oden was asked about him conceding more penalties this season, he had a grim reply, “He gotta play. I gotta coach. And they officials gotta call it.” Amid all the holes in their defense this season, the Jets rank No.2 in opponents’ pass yards allowed per game. Well, this might be their only ‘Sauce’ in that floundering backline. While Gardner gets called out for his nickname this season, Aaron Rodgers heard a familiar word after their latest loss in New England.

Aaron Rodgers finds himself in darkness yet again after shock Patriots loss

Once the game finished in Foxborough, the Patriots found a glimmer of hope in their struggling season. Even after losing their rookie QB Drake Maye to a concussion early into the game, they still managed to win over the Jets. This got the Jets interim coach, Jeff Ulbrich, so upset that he said, “This is a moment of darkness. And we understand the outside world is going to get really loud right now. But the only thing I know in life is that when it gets dark and it gets hard, you work. And you point the finger at yourself, and you look inward and you figure out what can I do better.” Well, hearing the word ‘darkness,’ the Jets QB Aaron Rodgers may be quite familiar with that feeling.

Going back to 2023, Rodgers spent four nights in total darkness thinking about whether he should hang up his cleats. However, he didn’t, and instead, A-Rod emerged out of that darkness and got himself a trade deal from Green Bay to New York. But the four-time NFL MVP has yet again found himself fighting that darkness.

And this time, it’s tougher considering the position his team currently stands at, “I’ve been in the darkness. You got to go in there. Make peace with it.” Well, making peace isn’t really an option right now. Only results will bring peace to New York. After sacking their head coach, Robert Saleh, they have now lost three in a row. This makes us question whether Saleh was really the problem in New York. Or there are some other issues that the Jets need to address. While they continue figuring out where the problems lie, their season continues to slide down their hands after eight weeks of NFL action.