Shirtless & Clueless: Jets' Sauce Trolls Bills' Pro Bowler After Criticism
The New York Jets don’t know their schedule just yet, but there’s a good chance they’ll have their first game against the Buffalo Bills circled in red.
After splitting the season series each of the past two seasons, Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins took it upon himself to find an offseason win over his AFC East rival. In an interview with VladTV, Dawkins told his side of the story regarding Jets defensive lineman Michael Clemons and the fight that broke out after Buffalo’s Week 11 blowout win.
© Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
In doing so, he took shots at essentially the entire Jets roster, though he did call defensive tackle Quinnen Williams “valid.” He caught cornerback Sauce Gardner’s attention with the implication that New York was playing for Instagram likes instead of wins.
“When it comes to sports, right, there’s people that play the sport because they love the sport and there’s people that play the sport just to try to be cool,” Dawkins said. “I feel like they play the sport to try to be cool. Like those are a bunch of dudes who wanna take pictures on Instagram. Like that’s wack. I play this because I’ll die by it.”
Gardner took to social media to respond.
“I play this game because I love it and it takes care of my family,” Gardner posted to X (formerly Twitter). “It also gives me a platform to inspire the youth. I have no 'NFL beef' with anybody. I didn’t know that was a thing til I just watched this video.”
Gardner also mocked Dawkins for appearing in a long-form interview shirtless, while criticizing others on the basis of being cool.
The All-Pro cornerback wasn’t directly involved in the Week 11 conflict, which saw Clemons curse out a handful of Bills before inciting an unnecessary roughness call from Dawkins, who belly-flopped on the lineman on the next play. There would be another altercation between the two as they headed toward the locker room, sparking a fight. Even so, he made a point to defend his teammates, much like Dawkins did when Clemons (allegedly) ran his mouth.
Of course, the Jets will play the Bills twice in 2024. For the first time since the fourth play of the season, they’ll be armed with a quarterback capable of making New York competitive. Even with Zach Wilson under center, the Jets managed to beat Buffalo in Week 1.
If nothing else this “beef,” however one-sided it may be, will be something to watch in 2024, providing ammo for each fanbase to use on the other.
