Sauce Gardner (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)
New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner posted a strange tweet regarding his mysteriously brief absence against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night that has since been deleted.

Sauce Gardner was curiously on the sidelines during the second quarter of the Jets’ season opener. Game reporters didn’t immediately have an update as to why Gardner wasn’t on the field.

In a since-deleted tweet, Gardner pushed back against the notion that he simply quit on his teammates and decided to remove himself. The third-year corner clarified that he was fighting some pain and returned to the field once it was gone.

A screenshot of Sauce Gardner’s deleted tweet is available below:

Per Colin Martin of SNY, Gardner told reporters that he had to go to the sidelines because he had the wind knocked out of him after a tackle.

“It was a tackle that I made, I just had to get my wind back,” the All-Pro cornerback said. “I just had to shake back. When I felt like I was good, I went back on the field.”

Aside from Sauce Gardner’s superb play, not much went right for the Jets on Monday night. Aaron Rodgers (playing his first full game with the Jets ) was rusty and out of sync with his wide receivers, completing just 13 of 21 pass attempts for 167 yards, a touchdown and one interception.

The Jets stingy defense allowed 401 yards of offense and forced zero takeaways, allowing the Christian McCaffrey-less 49ers to rack up 32 points in a statement victory.

Sauce Gardner and the Jets will try to avoid a disastrous 0-2 start on Sunday afternoon when they visit the Tennessee Titans, who also dropped their season opener against the Chicago Bears.

Sauce Gardner Needs More Help On Defense

As great as the 49ers offense is, it was surprising to see the Jets defense picked apart entirely throughout the game. Robert Saleh’s defense has kept this team in games over the last two years despite awful quarterback play, but it didn’t give Rodgers and company a chance on Monday evening.

Gardner may be the best cornerback in the game, but the Jets can’t realistically compete for a championship if he’s not going to get much support from the defensive line and his fellow defensive backs.