Jets Sauce Gardner is having fun again after uneven start to season

Sauce Gardner is smiling again. The Jets cornerback says he is having fun on the field again after trying to do too much earlier this season.Gardner has bounced back from some shaky games to play his best football in his past two games. “My mental wasn’t all the way there for whatever reason.

It just wasn’t there.That was it,” Gardner told The Post on Wednesday.

“I wasn’t having as much fun.I was out there playing like I’ve got to make every single play.

I’ve got to make plays for other people.I was playing like I can’t make mistakes.

The way that I am, I’m somebody who’s always smiling and happy.I play my best when I’m smiling and I’m happy, because I’m having fun and I’m always being positive.

I wasn’t doing that at all.” Gardner drew very little criticism in his first two years, and he was named first-team All-Pro in each of those seasons.But this year he has come under fire for missed tackles and penalties, and not playing as well as he had in those first two seasons. The 24-year-old was affected by what he saw on social media, eventually deleting his X account to try to escape the negativity.

But Gardner said he was his own harshest critic after he made mistakes. “Anytime I see something about me missing a tackle or something like that, I’m really staying up at night myself already no matter if somebody says something or not,” Gardner said.“That’s just how I am.

I want to make every single play.You could say that you’re going to make mistakes, but that’s just not my thought process.

If somebody gets the ball on me, I’ll be up at night for a while before I can go to sleep.” Gardner has not had to worry about sleepless nights lately.He has played his best football in his past two games against the Seahawks and Jaguars (he missed the game against the Dolphins with a hamstring injury).

In those two games, Gardner had no missed tackles after missing 10 earlier this season. Against the Seahawks, he m...