Jessica Alba Praises Sauce Gardner's Smooth Talking, I See How He Got His Name!

Jessica Alba isn't phased Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner didn't know who she was ... and says after meeting the Jets' star cornerback, she understands why he has the nickname!

ICYMI, Sauce hit up the Knicks playoff game against the Heat Tuesday night (game 2) with his new quarterback, 39-year-old Aaron Rodgers, who had some fun with the 22-year-old for not knowing who Alba was.

"He was just picking on me for being young," Sauce told reporters Wednesday. "We was getting seated, and he was like, 'We about to sit by Jessica Alba.'"

"I'm just like, 'Oh, I don't know who that is.' He looked at me like I'm crazy. That whole night he'd keep asking me, 'Do you know who that person is?'"

On Thursday, the 42-year-old actress -- who got her breakthrough on the big screen in the 2003 film "Honey" -- spoke glowingly about Gardner ... despite the former 1st round pick being unfamiliar with her work.

"Lol -I totally see how this kid Sauce got his name," Alba tweeted. "But in all honesty he was actually very polite with his elder @AaronRodgers12 and everyone else in the room."

"It was nice meeting you," she added.

What won Jessica over was when Sauce -- the '22 Defensive Rookie of the Year -- asked one of Alba's friends ... "How can I get caught up when I'm the catch?"