The Indianapolis Colts are now 8-2 after their latest 31-25 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. This game also marked the first-ever for the newly traded and former New York Jets All-Pro cornerback, Sauce Gardner. He had six total tackles, recorded one pass breakup, and was the closest defender on a key two-point conversion that sent the game to overtime. And now, after the game, he has revealed his side on his Colts debut.

During a press briefing, Gardner told the reporters that the current week has been mentally challenging for him. He began the week watching the Cleveland Browns’ tape, and now he is here.

‘This week has been tough for me, mentally. I started this week watching tape on Cleveland, and now I’m here’ Gardner said.

After a headline-worthy trade on Tuesday, November 4, the New York Jets got two first-round picks and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell, and the Colts got their newest cornerback, Gardner. But the trade wasn’t that smooth for Gardner.

Gardner signed a 4-year, $120.4 million extension with the Jets in June 2025 that made him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL at that time. Despite dealing with a hamstring injury and missing two games in the 2024 season, the Jets didn’t shy away from offering an extension to Gardner. Even Gardner was hopeful with the extension and called it  “only the beginning.”

But things turned upside down for Gardner in mid-season 2025, as after the extension, he was traded to the Colts, a decision that even Gardner couldn’t process.

“I didn’t even have time to process it all the way,” Gardner said when he was asked if he was surprised after the trade. He has also mentioned that he never asked for a trade from the Jets. Such a whirlwind week can be mentally challenging for any player, especially when it happens in the middle of the season.

Although this week might have been challenging for him, he left an impression with his Colts debut.

In the game against the Falcons, Gardner had a season high of six tackles, four of which were solo. Three of his solo tackles came in the first half. It also put him in third place on the team in terms of tackles, just behind Zaire Franklin, Nick Cross, and Germaine Pratt.  

He also had 2 receptions on 4 targets. This ended up in 30-yard gains for the Falcons. Plus, he had a pass breakup, which was almost an interception. But this doesn’t mean that the game against the Falcons was only about Gardner’s impressive debut. 

Colts HC talked about an excellent performance

During the press briefing, Colts HC Shane Steichen talked about how good the blocking was, and he didn’t miss mentioning the spectacular, record-setting performance from Jonathan Taylor in the latter part of the game.

Taylor rushed for 244 yards on 32 carries and had three touchdowns, two of which allowed him to build a perfect comeback scenario for the team. His second touchdown broke the franchise record of Hall of Famer Edgerrin James and became his second 80+ yards TD of the current season. This was Taylor’s 65th career touchdown.

His 66th career touchdown came during overtime and made it clear that the Falcons can’t stop him from winning the game. He simply juked safety Jessie Bates III and walked for an untouched eight-yard winning score. But this isn’t something out of the blue from Taylor, as he has been like this throughout the season. As of now, he has rushed for 1,139 rushing yards and has a total of 17 touchdowns over 10 games.

The two positives the Colts can take from the last game are Gardner’s impressive debut and Taylor continuing his gridiron excellence. Moving forward, the Colts will expect Gardner to adjust, as he has just cleared the concussion protocol. For Taylor, they surely want nothing to change.